Darker Heart
by Smenzer
Summary: Every pirate ship needs a doctor but in 1750 doctors are a hard thing to get. Captain Barbossa is determined to get one though and so he kidnaps Madame Red for her skills as a doctor. The fact she was killing women doesn't matter to the pirate. Pairings will be either Madame Red/Grell or else Sebby/Grell.
1. Chapter 1

Darker Heart

Idea: The idea for this story is what if Madam Red and Grell (while being Jack the Ripper) met someone even worst then they are? I thought Barbossa would be perfect. It was also common practice for pirates to kidnap doctors (or surgeons) and force them to work for them on the ship. And medical supplies were the thing they stole right after gold. Injuries aboard a ship are common so there were lots for the doctor to do – that and the conditions aboard a pirate ship were often horrible.

Note: Starts during the beginning of "Episode 5 His Butler Chance Encounter" when they (Madame Red & Grell) leave the London house that Ciel is staying at. For Pirates, this is set after "On Stranger Tides".

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. The characters from POTC belong to Disney and the Black Butler ones belong to someone else (no idea who owns it really)… This is just for fun.

000

1888

Angelina Durless, known as Madame Red stood before the front door of the London manor, buttoning up her red coat as she would be leaving soon. She was dressed entirely in red except for her white shirt, which sported a big ruffle in the front. Her long skirt was a brilliant red with three ruffled layers near the bottom, her waistcoat was red with narrow black trim and her wide-brimmed hat was red as well. Even her short hair, neatly styled in a bobcut, was red. And possibly the most unusual thing about her was her red eyes. Even through the thick door she could hear the hard rain falling outside and she hoped that Grell would remember the umbrella. She could feel Sebastian, her nephew's butler, hovering just behind her. "You don't have to escort me."

"But my lady…" Sebastian protested in his cultured but mild voice suitable to a proper butler. He was dressed as only proper, in a black suit with a white shirt and shiny golden buttons and chains.

She smiled secretly, knowing that he feared for her safety due to the recent murders, the ones that were plastered all over the newspapers. But she had nothing to worry about, nothing at all, not for herself anyway – but why must Ciel be involved in the underworld? He was just a young boy! The things he did and saw for the Queen was just not suitable for someone his age, yet he refused to listen to reason. She had hoped that during their recent chess game the conversation would talk some sense into him, but he was hardheaded and had refused to listen. What a pity. "Please don't leave that boy's side. Make sure he doesn't stray from the path and gets lost."

Angelina realized that she was lost, but it was too late to do anything about that now. Ciel was young still, just thirteen so he had a chance if he would only get out in time.

Sebastian bowed low on the floor, one hand placed over his heart. "Fear not. I shall stay by his side and protect him until the very end."

The door opened and her butler, Grell Sutcliffe, stood there in the pouring rain, an open umbrella in hand ready for her. The umbrella, of course, was red. He was dressed in brown and had his brown hair tied back with a large red bow, a few long loose strands of hair hanging on his forehead. "I've come for you, my lady."

Stepping under the umbrella, Angelina allowed Grell to escort her to the waiting carriage. She waited while he opened the door and then accepted his white gloved hand as he helped her up inside. She knew, of course, that he had already secured their next victim; the last prostitute that had came to her for an abortion. That's where they would go now, to finish the woman off. Angelina, who badly wanted a child of her own, could not stand seeing pregnant woman throwing away such a rare gift and so she slaughtered them with her doctor tools. She allowed Grell to play with her tools and in the end she carefully removed the uterus. It just wasn't fair; as she wanted a child of her own so bad but since that accident and losing her uterus because of it, it just wasn't possible.

Settling inside the carriage, she tried to remove the worry from her mind. She didn't like that Ciel was investigating the case and now that the other lord had turned out to be innocent of the murders, she hoped he wouldn't turn his eyes onto her. And there was something odd about that butler of his, too. Sebastian seemed to possess a knack for doing the impossible…

Little did she know that someone else had their eye on her, too…

000

Grell climbed up into the driver's seat at the front of the carriage, taking the reins from the two horses in his left hand and the horse whip in his right hand. The whip was only used to correct the horses by touching their shoulders and not by striking them with it. Signaling the horses to move forward, he steered them out of the gate of the London manor and into the wet streets.

The hour was already late and it was dark out, the sky overhead filled with clouds. The streets around them were deserted, the only sound being the loud echoing clip-clop of the horses' hooves as they splashed through puddles and the rumble of the wagon's wheels. Everyone was clearly staying inside, safe behind locked doors, due to Jack the Ripper's bloody rampage. But the darkness and blood didn't frighten him, not when he and Angelica was in fact the now infamous Jack. He kept his face blank as he drove, his green eyes watching the streets for any unexpected traffic. He doubted if anyone else would be out, but one never knew.

The rain slowed and then stopped as he turned the horses towards the water, towards the poorer area of town where the prostitutes lived. They would get in and out without being seen…

The air grew cooler and heavier, a thick fog rolling in off the nearby river. Sighing a bit at this unexpected development, he slowed the horses less they collide with something in the mist. Leaning forward slightly, he strained to make out anything in the whiteness that now surrounded them, the wetness dripping off of his glasses and down his face.

At least the fog would help hide them…

He turned down the proper street and was startled to see some signs of life ahead, his green eyes growing wide. One of the pubs was clearly open and doing good business by the sound of it, as he could hear raucous shouts, screams and the loud cracks of furniture smashing. It sounded like a bar fight. Making sure he had a secure grip on the reigns, he slowed the carriage a tad more less he hit some drunk tossed out into the street. He could see a warm glow up ahead, lights from the pub in question. The lights illuminated the pub's sign that creaked and groaned in the light breeze, water dripping off of it.

Loud laughter came through the fog then and he glimpsed a stumbling figure in the center of the narrow road, weaving up and back from one side of the road to the other. Grell frowned at the drunk that was now in his path, as the last thing they needed was to be questioned about what they were doing in this part of town at this hour if he hit someone. His eyes flickered to the side of the road where the pub was and he saw two more figures emerging, one taller than the other and clinging to each other. He dare not hit the drunk now, not with witnesses.

The first drunk stumbled right up to the left horse and clung to the harness, throwing his head back and laughing. "I'm in love!"

Grell felt the carriage come to a stop due to the drunk clinging to the horse and he frowned. He stared at the figure through the fog, thinking there was something a bit odd about it, but put it to just being a bit nervous about getting caught for the murders. It wasn't like a grim reaper could ever go to prison, but the thrill of maybe getting caught added a bit of excitement to the game. Raising his voice, he called out to the somewhat stout man. "You there, move away from the horse please!"

The drunk clung to the harness as he moved closer to the carriage, leaning on the beast heavily so he wouldn't fall over. The drunk then started to sing. "My heart is pierced by cupid; I disdain all glittering gold…"

Oddly enough, the drunk had a nice voice as if he were used to singing and his words didn't sound as slurred as one might expect. The drunken man stumbled forward, pushing off of the horse's fleshy hip with a hand and fell forward, catching himself on the smaller wheel of the carriage, the one right near the driver. The man looked up at him then, revealing a somewhat plump face with wet shiny skin, stringy brown hair that hung down to his shoulders, dark eyes and a wide grin. An old-fashioned leather tricorne was perched atop his head "There is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold."

To Grell's shock, the man suddenly leapt up at him with incredible ease and a fisted hand shot out at him. For a split second he saw a sharp glint of metal in the man's hand – not a knife but something a lot smaller - and then there was a sharp jab of pain in the side of his neck. He tried to raise his arm to strike the drunk back but it felt incredibly heavy and the next moment he felt the riding crop fall out of his hand. Eyes half closed, he numbly watched as the man stole the reins from his hand and got the carriage moving again. He felt tired, so incredibly tired…

And then darkness greeted him.

000

Madame Red shrieked in terror when the carriage doors flew open and two dirty men jumped into her carriage, leering at her. One was short with a balding head and the other was tall and thin with a wooden eye. Both brandished swords in their hands.

"Hello, poppet." The short one said as he grinned evilly at her with bad teeth. His clothes were filthy and ragged with numerous unknown stains all over them. His shirt hung open revealing a somewhat hairy chest, the hairs graying like the greasy locks on the side of his head. A wide sword belt hung across his chest at an angle, the copper buckle corroded to green. A foul odor of old sweat, rum and other unpleasant scents wafted off of him. "Cooperate and you won't get hurt."

"Yeah, do as he says." The skinny man said with a laugh. He had dirty blonde hair that needed a washing, a too-large fake wooden eye and wore a faded blue-green coat that had seen better days. A small mustache and a tiny beard decorated his face and his single real eye was blue. A faded scarf was tied about his waist and his pants were gray. The same bad odor wafted off of him as it did from the stout man.

Raising a hand in horror to her mouth, she pressed herself against the back of the cushioned seat, as if that could protect her from these ruffians. They were right in front of her though, blocking the doors…they was nowhere for her to go. Things like this, it just didn't happen in London! But yet there they were as real as any nightmare…

This is what I get for murdering those girls… a voice whispered in the back of her mind.

"Grell!" She shrieked as part of her was already wondering why he had let this go on for so long already. She had felt the carriage slow due to the fog and hadn't thought much of it. Then she had heard him yell at someone to get away from the horses, there had been some sort of odd singing and now these two thieves were in her carriage!

"He aint gonna help you." The short one snickered, his dark eyes glowing with an evil glint. "He's out cold."

"You sure are pretty!" The skinny one commented as he eyed her, waving his sword about slightly. "And you sure like red. My scarf was red like that until the sun faded it."

"W-what … what do you want?" She asked fearfully, her heart up in her throat. It felt like her entire body was vibrating with terror, her muscles stiff and tense. Her breath was coming fast as her heart pounded at a quickened pace. A thousand bad thoughts ran through her mind, things that they might do to her. The images of the blood and gore from the murders flashed through her mind then, the hot blood spurting outward as she had sliced into them with her knives and scalpels. What if they did that to her?

The carriage was moving again and she wondered who was driving. She was being kidnapped and held prisoner just as she had done to those helpless women.

"We know what you've been a doing…" The shorter one said with a grin.

A hot stab of fear shot through her. How could they know? "D-doing?"

"Yeah, what you've been doing to them there girls…" The man's face seemed to darken, his eyes turning harder. "Don't try to lie to us. We know who you are, Doctor Angelina Duress. You've been butchering them girls with that butler of yours."

A feeling of cold dread formed in her stomach as sweat beaded on her forehead. Her palms were freezing yet they were damp with sweat. So she tried to rub the wetness off onto her skirt without them noticing. Never in a hundred years could she have imagined a situation like this. Who were these men and how did they know what she had been doing? Were they friends of one of the murdered women, lovers perhaps? They looked the sort that might barter services from a prostitute, but still … they were so filthy! And those swords, where in the world did they get those from? "I … I mean … did you know one of them?"

"Nay, we didn't know them." The short man replied. "Our captain wants to talk with you is all. Cooperate and we won't harm a hair on yer head."

"C-captain?" Her mind was going blank. Captain, what sort of captain did he mean? None of it made any sense to her and that made it even more terrifying.

"Aye, Captain Barbossa!" The skinny man replied. "I'm Ragetti and he's my uncle, Pintel. And Scrum is driving the carriage…"

Oh no, they told me their names! Does that mean they're going to kill me?

"And look what we got here!" Pintel said as he reached into a sack she hadn't noticed he had before and pulled out her medical kit, the one with all of her scalpels and other devices, the one she had been using on the murdered girls. Grell had possessed it last and she had thought he had left it at the next victim's house. Just seeing it gave her a bit of hope, but then she saw the swords in their hands and quickly forgot about trying anything. She noted they held them with confidence, as if they had used them a lot.

"Yeah, we're good little thieves!" Ragetti laughed as he easily stood in the rocking carriage, the movement not bothering him at all. "We found it at that house of the girl all tied up. I felt sorry for her so I let her go…"

The ride grew rougher then and she knew they had left the cobbled streets of London for the countryside. It was dark outside the carriage, so she was unsure which direction they were heading in. Were they planning on dumping her body in the woods or some farmer's field?

Poor Ciel, I'll never see him again!

They rode on for some time in silence, her nerves jumping. She found she didn't know what to do with her hands as they refused to sit still in her lap and she had to force herself not to pick her fingernails to death. It was a nasty habit and one she didn't want to start. She had also always believed that women should appear happy and carefree in front of men, but under the current circumstances that seemed out of the question. All too soon the carriage stopped and her terror increased then tenfold.

Was this it, the end of her life? Would they kill her now for revenge?

"Time to go, poppet." Pintel said as he reached out and grabbed her securely by the wrist. "Don't give me any trouble now."

Her heart in her throat, Madame Red was dragged out of the carriage, almost falling to the distant ground – it was so dark she could barely see the tiny step the carriage had on it. The man's strong hand was like a vice around her wrist and she feared he might break it. The air was rich with dampness and salt, the loud sound of the surf echoing in her ears. She turned then and she could see the ocean in the faint light from the carriage. She was pulled up front then, near the horses.

"He kept waking up…" The third man complained to Pintel as soon as he saw him. "I'm almost out of darts…"

"You're not using them right!" Pintel accused hotly, his eyes flashing in even the darkness. "You got to leave them in!"

"I did!" Scrum insisted.

"Well, it aint no matter now. Drag him down here and we'll use the shackles."

Madam Red watched as Ragetti and Scrum dragged Grell off of the driver's seat of the carriage, handling his weight with ease, as if they were used to doing a lot of lifting. She hadn't noticed it before, but all three men apparently had strong muscles. Once they had Grell stretched out on the ground, Ragetti pulled out some iron shackles, the old-fashioned kind that was connected with a short bit of chain. She just stared at them in utter shock, as it was like something out of a museum. Within a moment the shakles were opened and she watched as one iron ring was clamped around her butler's ankle.

And then to her shock she was yanked forward and the other half was snapped shut around her ankle, the hard metal cold against her bare ankle. "What are you doing?"

"The Captain said we're supposed to keep a close eye on him, so we're not taking any chances…" Pintel replied as he opened another shackle. "If he's tied to you, he can't do anything then."

Her red eyes widened at his words. Surely they didn't know…?

"Grell is just my butler." She replied somehow in a steady voice. "He can't even cook or serve tea properly. What do you expect him to do?"

"It's them innocent-looking ones you got to watch…" Ragetti stated as he snapped another shackle around Grell's wrist. "And he looks pretty innocent and dumb to me. They're the ones that cause trouble."

Soon she found herself securely shackled to Grell, both hands and one ankle to boot! It was insane really but she pondered if they actually knew or suspected what he really was. Tied up as he was, he couldn't change into his Shinigami form or she didn't think he could… An insane number of darts were removed from his neck and soon he started to stir. She could only watch as his eyelids fluttered and she sighed in relief, hoping that it meant he was OK. She had no idea what sort of chemical they had dipped the darts in and what it might have done to him. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with these horrible men.

His green eyes opened then and he took in the situation, a frightened look appearing on his face when he saw the three ruffians with swords. Then he noticed the shackles about his wrists and ankle tying him to her. He hung his head sadly. "I've failed you, my lady."

"No, it's not your fault." Madame Red said, knowing it was true. "We were ambushed."

"Get up!" Pintel ordered as he yanked Grell to his feet by gripping the front of his coat. "Now move forward, both of you. We don't want to keep the Captain waiting, do we?"

"Captain?" Grell asked as he looked at her, clearly confused.

"They know about the murders…" she informed him as she tried to move her left leg forward at the same moment Grell moved his right leg forward. She knew it would be up to her, as in his human form he was such a klutz….or he pretended to be anyway. She could never tell if it was an act or not, as all of the disasters he created seemed so genuine. Smashed plates, burned black food, hedges trimmed into skulls, he did it all…it was a miracle he could drive the carriage really.

His eyes grew wide at that bit of information and his mouth dropped open.

She saw a longboat on the beach and soon they were shoved inside it, the terror inside her mounting. All too soon the boat was gliding across the choppy waves heading out to open sea. The boat seemed to sit abnormally low in the water, the cold waves too close to the top edge of the boat for her comfort. Maybe that was normal, maybe not; she didn't know but it made her terror even worst.

Maybe there is no captain … maybe they're going to toss us overboard so we'll drown!

Pintel and Ragetti rowed together as if they had done so many times before. Scrum sat on the other end of the boat and soon took up to singing that "Jolly Sailor Bold" song again.

"Do you have to sing that again?" Pintel complained, clearly annoyed, as he rowed. "We've only heard it about a thousand times!"

"But I like it!" Scrum insisted.

"Well, I'm sick and tired of it." Pintel stated coldly.

"Heave ho, all together, hoist the colors high!" Ragetti sung happily.

"Heave no, all together, never shall we die!" Pintel finished and then laughed.

Ragetti started laughing too then.

Madame Red frowned, as she had never heard either song before and she generally knew all of the gossip and trends going around.

Lights were seen in the darkness ahead and she focused her attention on them. She noted other sounds too then, the flap of canvas, the loud creak of rigging and the faint groan of a hull shifting about in the tide. The ship appeared then, larger than anything she could have imagined. She came to realize the spots of lights were old-fashioned glass lanterns with candles inside them, possibly as old as the ship itself. It was a true sailing ship and not one of the new modern steam ships that were being built these days, but a sailing ship as she had never seen before. All too soon they were along its hull, the longboat bumping gently against its massive mother.

"Time for you to go up and meet the captain…" Pintel laughed.

"But how…" Madame Red asked as she raised a hand to indicate the cuffs around her wrist.

"You'll find out." He promised with another laugh.

And then a snake-like rope shot down from above. Within seconds it had wrapped itself around her, forcing her chest to chest with Grell until she could hardly breathe. She could see the same startlement and fear in his eyes that she felt herself, as the very rope itself appeared to be alive! And then they were yanked upward, towards the deck of the ship.

TBC…

Author's Note: Yes, I know Pintel and Ragetti were not in "On Stranger Tides" and presumably were on the Pearl when it got attacked by Blackbeard, but for this story I shall say that they were accidentally left behind on Tortuga while Ragetti was shopping for a new eye and Barbossa later picked them back up after he got his new ship from Blackbeard. Besides, Pintel and Ragetti are such fun characters.

I also have several chapters written already and will be posting them soon.


	2. Kidnapped!

Darker Heart 2

A moment later they were dumped roughly onto the deck of the ship, the wet boards hard under them. The rope was withdrawn and she gasped for a much needed breath of air. Really, it had been even worse than wearing a corset! After simply breathing for a moment, she lifted her eyes to notice a tall and commanding figure standing before them.

He had a pockmarked face and a scraggly beard that hung down onto his neck, blue eyes and a big round hat with feathers sticking out of it. One of his legs was missing at the knee and had been replaced with a wooden peg. He wore a finely brocaded yellow waistcoat with a grayish long coat over it, a thick sword belt crossing his chest. The man stared down at them, an intense look in his eyes. "Welcome aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. I be Hector Barbossa, Captain of this fine ship. We be needing a ship's doctor and I believe you be volunteering, aye?"

Madame Red's mouth fell open at the unexpected words. "You kidnapped us because you need a doctor?"

"Aye, that be true." Barbossa nodded as he signaled Pintel and Ragetti to pull the two to their feet. "Tortuga be a horrible place to find them of medical skills, you see. And getting a real doctor, someone who actually knows what they be a doing, is even rarer. These days anyone who can sew or slice be fancying themselves doctors, but that doesn't do much good when the crew be a bleeding from cannon fire or swords or pistols… So fancy my surprise when I find ye got a certificate and all…"

Truthfully, she had no idea what to say…

Barbossa then stepped closer, a broad smile breaking out across his pockmarked face. "Unless ye want the authorities to find out what ye been doing, arrgh? I'm sure they'll be real interested in them sliced girls…"

Blackmail, he was going to blackmail them?

"But why go through all of this trouble just to get a doctor?" She asked him, truly confused. "Why would you want me, knowing what I'm guilty of?"

"Because this be a pirate ship, missy." Barbossa replied as he pulled his pistol out of his belt and pointed it at her face. "And I be a Pirate Lord. Most honest doctors don't want to work for pirates and end up hung, but I fancy ye won't mind now will ye?"

Madame Red stared at the pistol that was aimed right at her nose, a fresh burst of terror squeezing her chest tight. She duly noted that it was not wavering but was held firm, his finger on the trigger. There was a cold expression in his blue eyes, as if shooting her would be nothing, nothing at all. That suggested he had killed a great many people in the past.

"I'd rather not kill ya, missy, as I do need a ship's doctor. I'll even give ye yer own room, a rare thing on a ship like this. What do ye say?"

What could she say? If she said no, he would shoot her!

Meekly she nodded her ascent.

Barbossa laughed heartily, apparently enjoying frightening her. "Ye must lie in the bed as ye made it, Miss Durless. It be yer own fault yer in this mess. But don't ye worry, we're all cutthroats and scurvy pirates aboard the Revenge."

Somehow the thought did not comfort her.

Then Barbossa's blue eyes narrowed and the pistol shifted to the left, to point at Grell.

The brown haired butler gulped nervously, his green eyes crossing to stare at the pistol pointing at his nose.

"Don't play innocent with me." Barbossa stated in a cold voice. "I know what ye are, as I'm quite acquainted with the supernatural. Behave or I'll bound ye in yer bones and don't think I can't. Yer kind don't have no jurisdiction out here. This be Calypso's territory and a mighty heathen goddess she be. Luckily for me, I be one of her favored servants."

Grell the butler nodded. "I understand."

"Good!" Barbossa laughed again as he tucked his pistol back into his belt. He casually placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and the shackles fell open, clattering loudly on the wooden deck.

Madame Red stared at them in surprise, as no one had touched them at all and yet they had unlocked by themselves! It was impossible and yet there it was before her eyes.

"It be magic." Barbossa explained at he saw her confused expression. He withdrew his sword and pointed it at the sails that hung slack due to lack of a stiff breeze. Immediately the ship jumped forward, the sails full with a strong wind.

Angelina stumbled, losing her balance and fell to the deck at the unexpected sudden movement. She landed on her hands and knees, saving her face from a harsh meeting with the wet boards that might have smashed her nose. She saw that Grell had lost his balance and had fallen on the deck as well, stretched out rather prone. He never seemed to really get injured from his numerous accidents though, probably due to what he truly was. She heard Barbossa chuckling at them and slowly pushed herself to her knees, feeling incredibly foolish.

"Ye'll get yer sea legs in time…" he promised.

Somehow she was sure he had done that to them on purpose.

Barbossa turned slightly. "Groves!"

A smartly dressed British Naval officer in powdered wig, blue and gold tricorne, a white waistcoat with golden buttons, dark blue jacket, white knee pants and buckled shoes appeared. He had been hovering behind the captain but she had been so focused on Barbossa she hadn't really noticed him before. He stood at attention at the captain's side now, his hands folded behind his back. "Yes, Captain?"

"Show the good Doctor and her companion to their quarters."

"At once, Captain." Theodore Groves shifted his attention onto them. "If you'll come with me?"

Angelina slowly climbed to her feet and followed the man across the deck, Grell at her side. She could only stare at the white powdered wig that hung in a long curled ponytail down the back of his dark blue officer's jacket, wondering why in the world was he wearing one. She had never seen anyone wear one before nor the tricornes or carry swords, yet on this ship it seemed to be totally normal. How could that be? It was like stepping into the past…

They went down a pair of steps, steps that had a rope as a railing, into the innards of the massive ship. Here the air was not so fresh, the space reeking of unwashed male bodies. The most prevalent odor was sweat but there were other, more unpleasant odors there as well. There was a big open area here and she could see countless hammocks strung from the ceiling, apparently where the crew slept. Men in various states of dirt and filthy clothes were busy swabbing the deck, the water itself looking like mud. The site made her grimace in disgust.

But even worst was how their eyes followed her.

These men were not her fellow gentile nobility at a party, they were brute ruffians and she could guess all too well what they might be thinking.

She suddenly realized working on the ship was going to be a lot worse than she had thought.

Groves stopped before a door and opened it for her. "Your room, Doctor."

Angelina took an uncertain step inside and paused, shocked at what she saw. Why, her parlor back home was larger than this! It was like a very long closet, really. The room had almost no real width at all. There was a bed with questionable white sheets on it against the one wall, a small table near the head of the bed and a bit of room on the other side by the opposite wall. Oh, wait; was that a chair there and a lantern dangling from the ceiling? There were also some weird slots near the ceiling, maybe for added ventilation. Just standing there and staring at the broom closet she was expected to live in, well, her mind went blank.

Groves then shoved Grell into the room as well and closed the door, walking away to attend to his duties as first officer.

Madame Red then turned and saw her butler standing there with a totally confused expression on his face. "Wait… are we supposed to share this broom closet?"

000

Grell swayed slightly on his feet, the unknown drugs still in his system. His leg muscles felt oddly weak and he could feel them trembling slightly. He hadn't thought it was possible for a human to drug him, but clearly the captain knew something about supernatural creatures and had experience with them. And what had he meant by the phrase 'bound him in his bones'? He had never heard that before…did he mean he could trap him in his human form so he couldn't change into his beautiful redheaded true self? That would be horrible, a fate worse than death!

Closing his eyes for a moment, he leaned back against the closed door and hoped the drug would dissipate soon. He hated feeling this way, weak and powerless as if he truly was a mere human instead of pretending to be one.

"Grell, did you hear what I said?" Madame Red's said.

"I'm sorry, my lady, I wasn't paying attention I'm afraid." He admitted as he opened his eyes to look at her and the small cramped room they were in. "Whatever they knocked me out with is still in my system. I should have suspected something but…"

"No one could have expected this." Madam Red said as she led him over to the chair and urged him to sit. "Everyone was frightened by the murders or so I thought. I know Ciel was investigating but this kidnapping is just insane!"

He watched as Madame Red stood in the center of the room, one hand on her hip and looked about, an unhappy expression on her face. "This isn't even a state room; it's a broom closet. Do they really expect two people to live in here?"

"I believe so, my lady. These old ships didn't have much room on them or so I heard. And this ship is old; it's not a modern steam liner built for passengers." Grell was uncertain how he felt about sharing a room with Madame Red, although the idea was not unpleasant. It would be fun probably, if she agreed to it that is. The thing is he had never really been attracted to a woman before, as he had never realized that a woman could be so … exciting. Most women were dull creatures with soft natures and the idea of blood and violence frightened them- not Madame Red. No, she went to town and really butchered the girls and that's why he loved her. Or he thought he loved her anyway. He certainly had been willing to pretend he was her butler, something unheard of for a grim reaper. No one else in his office would stoop to serve and wait on a human, but it was actually kind of fun.

But then he had meet Sebastian. He loved how the man dressed so carefully and always kept himself neat and tidy. And then he had unexpectedly leaped out of the moving carriage, ran off to interview witnesses, make those giant lists and get back to the London manor to prepare tea before they had even arrived. Now that really got his attention and he fell for him right then and there, hearts dancing before his eyes. He was pretty sure that Sebastian was a demon as well, which made things even more exciting as that was forbidden. Demons were supposed to be the enemy of Shinigami but how could that be, as Sebastian looked so lovely?

But that begged the question as to who he really was in love with or could he love both of them at the same time? Why must love be so confusing?

A few minutes passed in silence and he could feel himself returning to normal, the drug disappearing as it should. He raised his eyes to watch the woman he worked for, to see what she would do next.

"Well, I suppose we must make the best of this situation and share this room…" She stated as she looked about, apparently wondering how they would do that. "Unless we can get off this ship somehow… Can't you just 'pop' us out of here?"

Grell smiled, his shark teeth showing for a brief moment, as her words amused him. "I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, my lady. Even grim reapers need to use rowboats if they've been reaping souls on a sinking ship. We can't just 'pop' off somewhere magically. I know it must seem that way to a human as we're so incredibly fast, but we run on rooftops. Even I can't walk on water."

"Well, I guess we'll have to play doctor until we get in to port then." She decided as she perched on the edge of the bed.

They both jumped nervously when someone started to bang loudly at the door to their room.

Grell rose from the chair and went to answer the door, relieved that his legs no longer trembled as they had earlier. Perhaps a few moments of rest were all he needed. Reaching out for the doorknob, he pulled the door open to see the two men that had kidnapped them; the short balding one and the tall thin one with the wooden eye. He noted that they were holding a big trunk in-between them.

"Hiya chum," Pintel stated as he looked up at him. "The Captain says we're to give ya this here trunk and that one over there."

Grell peered past the balding pirate and saw a second large trunk sitting on the floor near their feet. "Very well. You may bring them in."

Stepping aside, he watched the two pirates carry the trunk into the room and set it down, then fetch the second one to do the same. They were a bit rough with the trunks but shoved them up against the bare wall, which was really the only place to put them. Grell hovered by the open door a bit uncertainly, wondering if the men were going to leave now that they had done what the captain had requested; however they showed no intentions of leaving yet.

"How you doing, poppet?" Pintel asked Madam Red, smiling. "We aints gonna hurt you, you know."

"I'm doing fine, thank you for asking." Madam Red replied easily as she fell into a long practiced routine, although she normally didn't converse with the lowlifes of society, which these two certainly were by their appearance. "I would offer you some tea normally, but…"

"Tea?" Pintel frowned with disgust. "We drink rum!"

"Our poppet is just refined is all," Ragetti added. "Just like our previous poppet was. She didn't like rum, remember Pintel?"

"Yeah, we had to hide it on her less she burn it…" Pintel said, still frowning, apparently thinking of the wasted rum.

Ragetti moved his arms to indicate a large explosion. "Ka-poof!"

"So you had a previous … poppet?" Madam Red inquired with one brow slightly raised in interest. "What happened to her?"

"She was the governor's daughter of Port Royal." Pintel explained. "We kidnapped her because she had the last coin we needed to lift the curse. Anyway, she was fascinated by pirates and even knew about parlay."

"And then she grew up and married her childhood sweetheart." Ragetti sniffed sadly, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "Captain Barbossa married them."

"Yeah, that he did." Pintel took on a sad expression then. "But then he got stuck as Captain of the Flying Dutchman, so he has to go travel around the sea for all eternity collecting the souls of those that died out at sea. The Dutchman needs a living heart so they cut his heart out and stuck it in a chest and that's all our previous poppet has of her husband, a heart in a box…"

"And he can only go on land to see her once in every ten years…" Ragetti wiped the wetness away from his one real eye with a somewhat dirty hand. "It's so sad!"

The story surprised Grell, as it sounded as if the husband had become a grim reaper. He had never thought of what had happened to the souls that had died far out at sea, as their cases only took them within a certain distance of shore so they could row back to land once the assignment was complete. It could also explain how the captain knew about reapers.

"Oh, the captain says you're to dine with him in an hour and you're to be properly dressed." Pintel said as he turned to go. "You best start getting ready…"

Grell watched as the two scruffy pirates left and he closed the door with a sigh. Turning, he regarded the two chests with interest.

"Well," Madam Red said as she waved a delicate hand at the chests. "Go and see what's inside them."

Walking over to the nearest one, he bent and undid the latches that held it closed. Gripping the lid, he pulled it up and saw it was packed to the rim with a wide assortment of fabric. Picking up the piece on the top, he lifted it from the container and let it unfold itself, the long lengths falling down to his boots. His green eyes lighted up as he realized it was a dress and not just any dress but a fancy gown! The dress had a full skirt, a tight bodice, ruffles at the elbow and a low-cut front. Basically is was a gown from the previous century, except it was in excellent condition and the fabric didn't feel old or threatening to fall apart as one might expect from something that old. Looking through the trunk, he found petticoats, shifts, stays, stomachers, hats, parasols, shoes and fans. And being familiar with women's clothes, he noted the pieces that were missing, like pantalettes, corsets and the chemise. Turning, he held up the gown against himself. "It's a trunk full of women's clothes."

"Why would pirates have a trunk full of women's clothes?" Madam Red asked as she started to look through the trunk as well.

"I guess they steal everything they can?" Grell moved over to the second trunk and found more women's clothes. Pulling the various items out to see what was deeper inside, he was thrilled to find a few dresses as red as blood. Excitement shot through him at the discovery and he held the first one up against himself to see if it would fit. It seemed as if it would, but then he realized he would have to continue playing her butler and go as a man. Still, he fingered the rich luxurious fabric, thinking he would try it on later. Feeling her gaze on him, he raised his green eyes off of the red material and saw her watching him, a knowing smile on her face. He blushed at getting caught, the heat rising to his face. Madam Red knew him all too well.

"You can play with the dresses later, Grell." Madam Red said as she held up a white triangular piece of fabric. "I have no idea even what this is, although I'm sure it's not a handkerchief."

"I'll help you get dressed, my lady." Grell informed her as he took the white triangular piece of fabric out of her hand. "I believe you pin this to the front of the gown's bodice. It's called a stomacher."

Madam Red looked at him in surprise. "How do you know that?"

"Well, I do love clothes, especially women's clothes." Grell admitted as started to pick the items he would need out of the two chests. "Besides, I used to be a tailor and one does learn a bit about previous fashions when you're in the clothes making business."

Her red eyes widened at his words. "You mean you weren't born a Shinigami?"

"One isn't born a Shinigami, one becomes a Shinigami." He explained as he watched her remove her red coat and laid it on the chair, his fingers itching to snatch it up and try it on. He had always admired her coat but had never been brave enough to ask if he could try it on, as that didn't seem proper behavior for a butler, even if they were alone. Maybe her title of baroness was getting in the way? But maybe now, trapped here on a pirate ship, he could get a bit bolder with her, as she now had all of the pretty gowns to wear. They certainly had no problems discussing the murders they did. "Truthfully, I had no idea I was going to become one. We're all horribly nearsighted, but I guess sewing late into the night will do that to a person."

Madam Red started to unbutton her white shirt and then hesitated.

"Oh, come on, you know I believe I'm a lady. I can just as easily be your maid as your butler." Grell reached into his pocket and pulled out his false eyelashes, removing his glasses for a moment so he could stick them onto his eyelids. Putting his plain butler glasses back on, he pressed his arms and hands together before his chest, wiggling his shoulders like a girl.

She smiled at his antics, clearly amused. Removing her white ruffled shirt and the red skirt, she laid them on the chair. Dressed in only her pantalettes, chemise and corset, she regarded him coolly and unembarrassed at her undressed state, the moment of nervousness gone. As a baroness, she never dressed herself anyway but always had her maid do it for her.

"We'll have to remove the corset if we're going to dress you according to the time period." He set his nimble fingers to work undoing the strings on the corset and soon had it removed and he set it on the chair as well. Then the chemise was pulled off and he set that aside as well. Madam Red just stood before him in her ruffled long-legged pantaloons now and he stared at her bare back, feeling a little sting of jealousy that she was actually a female. Even with her back to him it was obvious by that wonderful curve that all women seemed to possess and that men didn't. Still, he knew they both suffered the same problem: they were unable to have the children they desired; she because her uterus had been removed after a deadly carriage accident and he because he was really a man.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he picked up the shift he had chosen earlier and put it over her head, pulling it down into place. Next came the stays, which was the predecessor to the corset. It had whale bones set into the fabric and wrapped around the waist while pushing the bust up. It supported a woman's body and helped her posture but did not squeeze one to death, as its purpose was not to make the waist smaller. The white petticoat came next, which was like a skirt and would be visible when the dress was worn. The dress went over this. It was blood red and had long white ruffles at the elbow that matched the petticoat, the gown of the dress falling to either side. The neckline was square and cut somewhat low to reveal a bit of chest but not too much. Moving in front of her, he carefully pinned the white stomacher to the stays under the bodice. One could easily get a different look by using different colored petticoats and stomachers with a gown, which of course was the whole idea in the first place. The combination of red and white, however, was similar to her favorite outfit which is why he had chosen it. A red hat tied in place with a sheer length of fabric was the final touch. He stepped back to admire the results of his work.

Madam Red glanced down at the long heavy skirts of her gown, fingering the fabric and lifting the skirt up a bit. "Well, it's certainly different…"

"It's romantic!" He declared as he gazed upon the lovely gown, imagining himself in one just like it. It would be a bit harder to dress himself with all of the necessary parts but he would manage somehow.

"The hour must almost be up." Madam Red reminded him as she glanced towards the door. "We must try to remain on the captain's good side, so be polite. The last thing we need is to be thrown overboard."

There was a knock on the door then and Grell went to answer it, forgetting that he was wearing his fake eyelashes. Upon opening the door, he saw the first officer sanding there in his Royal Navy uniform.

"The Captain requests you join him for dinner." Groves informed them. If he noticed the fake eyelashes, he didn't say a word.

"It is a pleasure to dine with the Captain." Madam Red said sweetly as she picked up a paper fan decorated with red roses and followed the officer through the belly of the ship, Grell following. They quickly reached the short staircase with the rope railing and she was forced to hold her skirts in her hands to climb the stairs. Upon reaching the deck, they saw it was darker out then before, the sea air damp. The lanterns were lit upon the deck, the fresh air an utter relief after the horrid stench of the lower deck. The unseen sails flapped overhead and the rigging moaned like invisible ghosts, the metal tackle clicking loudly ever so often, the sounds ringing out through the night. They followed Groves to the back of the ship where another short staircase led up to a landing, upon which a door waited. Groves led them inside the lighted cabin, candles glowing.

The rich scent of roasted meats hit them first, the aroma taking them by surprise. Truthfully, neither had known what to expect for dinner with a Pirate Lord, but the feast before them on the table was not it. There was a roasted lamb with a bright red apple in its mouth, roasted turkey, and bottles of red wine, a basket of freshly baked bread and bowls of fresh fruit. For desert there was some sort of pie, pastries and a fruitcake. Madam Red paused before the heavily laden table in obvious surprise, her red eyes growing large momentarily.

Captain Barbossa put down the leather bound book he had been perusing and slowly stood. Grabbing his crutch, he leaned on it heavily and made his way out from behind the large wooden desk he had been sitting at. Several items decorated the desk, including a human skull. Behind the desk and lit by candles there was a huge stained glass window of a laughing demon and souls being tortured in flames. His wooden peg thumping loudly on the deck, he made his way over to the dining table he had had his men prepare. His sharp blue eyes took in her appearance and he nodded in satisfaction. "Ye look better now. Sit and eat."

Grell hurried forward to pull out a chair for his mistress and she sat down, then he moved to stand behind her chair, a bit uncertain what he was supposed to do now. Did pirates have butlers to serve the food or was he supposed to serve Madam Red? His green eyes shifted about the large captain's cabin and he saw the two smartly dressed Royal Navy men, one of which he knew was the first officer. What were navy men doing on a pirate ship? Pirates, navy men, eighteenth century clothing, none of it made any sense… The two men moved forward and sat down on either side of their captain.

"There is no need to stand on ceremony to impress anyone. We are naught but humble pirates." Barbossa said as he waved a hand above the food laden table, expensive rings flashing in the candlelight. "Sit and eat, unless you'd rather go hungry until breakfast."

Grell realized that Barbossa was talking to him and not to Madam Red who was already seated. He served her some of the food and filled her glass with wine from the glass container it was in and then somewhat nervously seated himself next to her. It felt odd sitting at the table next to her, as butlers just didn't do that but then he wasn't really a butler was he?

"These are my officers," Captain Barbossa said as he indicated the man on his right and left sides. "Lieutenant Commander Theodore Groves and Second Lieutenant Andrew Gillette. On board a ship, the doctor is generally considered an officer as well although not in the chain of command. You'll receive the same privileges as me officers though, such as yer own room and better food than the regular crew."

"Exactly what sort of medical issue do you have?" Madam Red inquired politely as she sliced the roasted lamb on her plate into smaller pieces.

"The crew has all sorts of minor issues I'm sure." Barbossa replied as he held a turkey leg in his hand and chewed on it. "Bad teeth and the like. Me, I have a bad liver and me leg pains me at times, but it's nothing I can't handle. It's during battles that the serious injuries occur and when I'll need your services: pistol wounds, limbs blasted off by canon fire and so forth. I lost me last doctor, the one supplied by King George, during the mermaid attack at White Cap Bay."

"King George?" Madam Red asked, a fork of meat paused halfway to her mouth. "Surely you mean Queen Victoria?"

"Nay." Barbossa confirmed as he took a small sip of the red wine. "I don't know your queen and have no interest to. It was King George who gave me the Letters of Marque and the HMS Providence. We sailed for the Fountain of Youth on a sanctioned mission for the King. And found the Fountain we did, along with the notorious pirate, Blackbeard. See, he wanted the magic waters for himself but I defeated him in battle. I took his sword, the Sword of Triton, supposedly made by Hephaestus himself and I took this ship. See, he had been the one who had stolen me ship, the Black Pearl and who had taken me leg, so I had gotten my revenge on him."

"But…" Madam Red's voice haltered. "But King George lived…"

"The year be 1750." Barbossa replied, a grin on his pockmarked face. He took a green apple from the bowl of fruit and bit into it, frothy apple juice leaking down over his bottom lip and onto his chin.

"But it's 1888!" She exclaimed. "You cannot possibly be alive from 1750! Why, you would be over one hundred years old!"

Barbossa laughed, more apple juice spilling out of his mouth. "Missy, I died in 1744 on Isla de Muerta, shot through the heart. Me life flashed before me eyes and I thought that was the end, but then I was resurrected by the Goddess Calypso. Nothing is final in this world, not even death, if ye know the secrets."

The room was totally silent as Barbossa took another loud bite of his crunchy apple. He then leaned forward, an intense look in his blue eyes. "And with this ship, I can do … anything. Serve me well and I'll grant ye your wildest wish."


	3. Discoveries

Darker Heart 3

"That was without doubt the strangest dinner I ever attended." Madam Red stated as she stood in their little room as Grell unpinned the stomacher from her gown. "King George, 1750, mermaids and the Fountain of Youth … does he expects us to believe all of that? I realize after meeting you, of course, that supernatural creatures exist, but are any of his stories true?"

Grell tucked the stomacher and the pins away in one of the clothing trunks and turned to continue removing the fancy gown for the night. "I cannot say about mermaids or the Fountain of Youth, but I do know that other mythical creatures do exist. For example, demons are real."

"Demons?" Madam Red exclaimed, a pale hand rising to her mouth in horror at the thought.

"Yes, demons." He confirmed as he busied himself removing the gown and carefully folding it for storage. The ship unexpectedly heaved upward and he stumbled, falling to his knees before the large open trunk. Behind him, he heard Madam Red let out a yelp and he twisted about on the floor to see she had fallen over backward onto the bed. Then the floor seemed to drop out from under him as the ship dropped only to rise again the next moment. He watched her red eyes widen at the unexpected heaving of the vessel, loud creaking of the boards filling the room. "I suspect we're away from the calm coastal waters, my lady."

"But surely he's going to go raid some town on the coast, isn't he? That's what pirates do, isn't it?" She asked in an uncertain voice, knowing full well she certainly had not read of any pirates raiding in the newspapers. "Could he be crossing the English Channel to France?"

"I cannot say, my lady." He replied as he crawled the short distance to the bed and managed to remove the skirt. With the ship heaving up and down crazily as it was, walking was going to be difficult until he grew used to it. And with his Shinigami powers it wouldn't take long, unless he was to continue to pretend he was a clumsy butler. "Perhaps in the morning when the sun is up and we go out onto the deck, then we can see where we are. But until then, I fear we'll be clueless as to where we're heading."

"So demons are real?" Madam Red asked in a curious tone. "Have you ever met one? Are they as frightening and as horrible as they say they are?"

"Demons are our enemies." Grell explained as he crawled up onto the bed behind her so he could remove the stays. With the ship heaving up and down it was a bit difficult, as his body wanted to pitch forward and he often ended up leaning on her shoulder to keep his balance. "We both fight over souls. Grim Reapers collect the souls to be judged but demons just want to eat them. They sign contracts with people who are open to the idea, people who are desperate and who have a great desire for something. Then once they give the person the thing they desire, they get to eat the person's soul. But not all demons sign contracts. Some just go around and steal souls of the dying before we manage to collect them."

Gathering the stays and the skirt in his hand, he managed to get them back to the chest and put them away without falling. Madam Red was just now in her shift and pantaloons, which would work well as night clothes. The shift hugged her upper body and ran all the way to the floor. She sat on the edge of the bed, one hand pressed against her stomach.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have eaten so much…" She said in an uncertain tone, which was unusual for her. "I didn't expect all of this heaving…"

And then the ship started to roll as well from side to side. The first roll threw her right off of the bed and Grell managed to catch her, both of them crashing to the floor. The bed, he noticed, thankfully stayed in place and he suspected it was bolted right to the floor as was the small table. The chair slid slightly, just a few inches, and then stopped. The clothes trunks slid about a bit too, their bottoms scraping loudly on the floor. The lit lantern swung wildly from the ceiling, the light casting constantly moving shadows in the room about them.

Madam Red crawled off of him, looking slightly embarrassed at falling off of the bed. "I suppose we must get used to these wild movements…"

"I believe so, my lady." He said as he helped her back into bed. "Perhaps if you go against the far wall it'll be easier to stay in bed…"

Grell removed his brown butler's jacket and placed it on the chair, then switched his plain eyeglasses for his red ones. He knew it would be far easier to keep his balance if he was in his true form. Besides, he wanted to be able to relax. He was running the comb through his hair when she repeated the question, the one he had managed to avoid answering a few moments ago.

"So, have you ever met a demon?"

His red hair trailing down his back and a long lock resting on his forehead between his green eyes, he watched as she crawled against the wall as he had recommended. He tapped a finger against his chin, thinking. "Well, I have sort of met one…"

She looked at him, obviously expecting him to continue.

"That is, I suspect he's a demon." Grell explained as he now easily kept his balance in the rolling and heaving room, waving a hand in the air for emphasis. "It's not like he admitted it to me, you know. They can disguise themselves as humans just as I can."

Madam Red digested this, her sharp mind thinking about the words. He could practically see her replaying certain events in her mind, things she had noticed as very odd. Lifting her head, her mouth formed a perfect little 'o' shape as realization hit her. "Surely you don't mean my nephew's butler! I admit I have no idea how he could have made that list so quickly or jump out of a moving carriage, but to be a demon…!"

"There's no other explanation." Grell explained to her as he pulled another shift from the trunk, holding it up against his shoulders to see if it would fit well. Deciding that it would, he started to unbutton his waistcoat. "A human cannot move that fast nor do the things Sebastian did earlier today. And I suspect if we would not have gotten kidnapped, he would have caught us red-handed as they say. "

"Oh, Ciel is clueless!" She retorted. "I know he did suspect me, but we have our alibis. We cannot be in two places at once."

"But that won't fool a demon." Grell remembered how Sebastian had stared at him from across the room earlier that day, an intense look in his eyes as if he had known. It had made him feel funny and had caused an odd twisting in his stomach. "I fear he saw through my disguise today. If he did, then he knows we very well could have done the murders."

"But then that means…" He saw realization dawn in her eyes. "How could my poor nephew have sold his soul to a demon?"

"Usually it's because they're desperate." He untied his ribbon tie and removed his shirt, adding them to the pile of clothes on the chair. He flipped a hand through his long red hair, throwing it over his shoulder. "Not that I would have minded getting caught by him. I could have introduced my true glorious self to him then. It would have been interesting, as I never actually met a demon before, not face to face like that. I'm not sure if that will happen now…"

Pulling the shift on, he smoothed it down over his narrow hips and legs. Kicking off his boots, he wiggled out of his black pants and tossed them onto the chair as well. "Well, I am ready for bed!"

Madam Red however seemed wide awake. "If he knows, we had better think of how to get out of this mess and blame it on someone else. Maybe we can pin it on these pirates?"

"Oh, yes, like pirates would go murder all of your former patients!" Grell laughed as he realized how incredibly stupid Madam Red had truly been. Still, it had been wonderfully exciting while it had lasted. "But then they did kidnap you, so maybe they will be incredibly dense and believe it. One can hope. Or perhaps I could sweet talk Sebas-chan into letting us go…"

He noticed she was staring at him.

"What? I think it's a wonderful nickname for him. I'm sure Sebas-chan will just love it!" He closed his eyes and imagined the demon racing to his rescue, arms outstretched and with love in his red eyes. It was almost enough to give him a nosebleed. Opening his eyes again, he blew out the light in the lantern and boldly crawled into bed, not even thinking that his mistress might object. The bed was just barely big enough for two skinny people and that was good enough for him. A lady certainly couldn't sleep on the floor! Thinking about the handsome demon, he hardly even noticed the heaving and rolling of the ship anymore… And soon after that he was out cold, fast asleep, his long red tresses trailing off the edge of the bed and swaying up and back with the ship.

The only one awake was Madame Red, who was trying to keep her stomach where it belonged. She groaned, fearing the horrid night would last forever. How could he sleep like that, with all of the wild movements and after eating no less?

000

Ciel stood in the narrow alley in the rain, waiting for the murderer to show up. It seemed as if he had been standing here a long time, but he knew that could be deceptive. A few minutes could seem like hours if you were waiting for something to happen, as was the case tonight. Being the Queen's Watchdog required him to do a lot of odd things and that included staking out this alley in wait for Jack the Ripper.

His mind went back to earlier that night, when Sebastian had suggested that some sort of creature was involved, something not human. What had his demon meant by a creature? And although he had pressed Sebastian for more information, the man had been silent on that. Ciel guessed that meant that his loyal butler had been unsure, maybe unsure of what type of creature it was. Unfortunately, Ciel himself had no idea of what creatures existed out there. He had even summoned Sebastian by accident. Whatever the thing was, it was violent and sick in the head. How could anyone rip girls up like that? It was horrible to even contemplate it.

A loud shriek was heard then, coming from the prostitute's house.

"Sebastian!" Ciel cried as he turned at the unexpected sound. "How could he have gotten past us?"

The demon started to run towards the nearby house, a short distance down a dark and wet cobblestone alley, Ciel hot on his heels, when the door to the woman's house opened and she came running outside. Her eyes were wide with terror and she practically collided with Sebastian, the demon catching her in his arms.

"Where is he?" Sebastian asked the terrified woman, who now clung to him with tears rolling down her face.

"We were sent by the Queen, to catch Jack the Ripper." Ciel explained as he nervously stared at the terrified young woman. He was relieved that she was indeed safe and that she had somehow had managed to escape. "Sebastian, go see if he's still in the house. I'll stay with her here. We must catch him and not let him escape."

"Yes, My Lord." Sebastian peeled the woman off of his chest and zipped into the home at an incredible speed. Moments later he returned, frowning. "There is no one there, but someone had been there. There is evidence she had been tied to a chair with rope…"

"You must tell us what you saw." Ciel demanded in a strong voice, belying the fact that he was just a thirteen-year-old boy. He may be young but he was an Earl and also owned his own companies as well. A lot of responsibilities rested on his small shoulders and he had the demon to help him with it all. "You are safe now. I promise nothing will happen to you. Just think of what you saw and tell us everything, before you forget. Even the smallest details might be important."

"I…I came home and he was in my house, a man!" the young woman said as she clung to Ciel. "He grabbed me and tied me to a chair! He … he put lipstick on my bottom lip and said he was going to make me beautiful. I … was terrified and although I struggled, I couldn't get away. Then he left…"

"He left?" Ciel asked, surprise in his voice. "Why would he leave? That doesn't make sense…"

"Then two other men appeared!" She cried as more tears ran down her cheeks. "They … they broke a window and crawled in! They took something; I don't know what, some sort of box I think. It was dark so I couldn't see well really. They smelled awful though, that much I did notice. And they talked funny, too, used weird words. One of them untied me. I don't know why but he did. And then I ran out the door!"

"So there were three of them…" Ciel muttered as he tried to make sense of the unexpected clues. "But two of them let you go and took something the first one might have left behind…"

"This I did not expect." Sebastian admitted with his usual expression. "Can you give us any clue what they looked like? Were they white men or a certain ethnic group? How did they speak? You said they used weird words…what do you mean by that?"

"They … they were all white. Even in the dark I could see that. The first man had dark hair and dark clothing…I couldn't really see more than that in the poor lighting. He spoke well and smelled clean, not like the other two…"

"So the first one must have been the doctor then, our killer…" Ciel mused as he thought it over. The doctor would be used to keeping himself presentable. "But who were the other two then? If they were his accomplices, then why would they let you go? Hmmmm…."

"They said "aye" a lot, the second ones I mean. One was short and balding. The other was tall and his eye looked really scary, like it was too big for his face! But he was the one who let me go. He had a giant knife, a knife as big as your arm and he just cut the ropes like they were nothing!"

"A sword?" Ciel asked, clearly confused now. "Some sort of sailors maybe? Well, we had best take you to a safer location. Scotland Yard can investigate here."

After dropping the woman off with the police, Ciel and Sebastian were leaving the station when the Inspector called them back.

"Ciel Phantomhive, I'm glad I just caught you before you left!" the inspector said as he ran up to him, worry clear in his eyes. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What is it?" Ciel asked, his single blue eye looking intense.

"I'm afraid that your aunt, Baroness Durless, has been kidnapped by unknown people. Not long ago her carriage was found abandoned down by the sea. We were just lucky someone had seen it and had reported it so quickly. The only thing left behind was her red umbrella and the horse whip. Both she and her butler are gone…"

Ciel turned to his butler. "Sebastian, we must rescue them at once."

Then the young Earl turned back to the inspector. "Thank you for informing me so quickly. Has there been a ransom note yet or any other clues?"

"No, no note of any kind, just a bunch of footprints in the sand going towards the water. It looks like there might have been a boat there and they took them out that way… I'm afraid there is no way we can track them on the water…"

"I'll start looking for them right away." Ciel promised. He accepted a piece of paper with the location of the abandoned carriage. Turning, he left the station at a fast pace and climbed into his own carriage.

"My Lord, I fear this may be part of the Jack the Ripper case…" Sebastian stated, his voice a bit uneasy. "I realize you may not wish to hear this, but I do have my own suspicions of who the killers were, as you well know. I did not state my suspicions earlier because I did not wish to slur a person's good name if I was wrong, but now it seems the case has taken an unexpected twist I did not see coming."

"Yes, I noticed the sailor connection myself." Ciel said as he studied his butler. "The two men who rescued the prostitute were probably sailors, ones with a sword no less. Swords are very rare these days and I cannot see anyone just walking down the street with one, especially with Jack the Ripper in the newspapers. And Madame Red was apparently taken out by a boat… could it have been the same two men that kidnapped them?"

"That is possible, My Lord." Sebastian stated.

"Sebastian, you said earlier you suspected a creature was involved. What sort of creature?"

"I believe we're looking for a reaper, a grim reaper." Sebastian explained as he climbed into the carriage and closed the doors for some privacy. "You may know them at Death. They collect the souls when a person dies and they judge them, to see if they should live or if they should die. I believe the reaper we are looking for has teamed up with a doctor and he has gone rogue; doing the murders without his supervisor's permission. They are not supposed to kill people if it's not the person's time."

"And so the first man, the clean one with the dark hair, would that have been the reaper or the doctor?" Ciel asked as a nervous feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. He knew what the women had in common, where they had been treated: the London Hospital where his aunt worked. And it was no secret that she was a doctor, the doctor that had treated all of the prostitutes.

"That would have been the reaper."

"Take us to the abandoned carriage so we may examine the scene." Ciel watched Sebastian climb out and close the door, and then started the carriage moving. Once alone, the young earl hung his head sadly. He didn't want to believe his aunt was the killer he was looking for, unless someone had been trying to frame her? She was a baroness and had a huge fortune. If they had found out the names of the prostitutes that had received abortions from her, others could have found that information as well. And it was no secret that Madame Red had lost her baby in an accident; it was common knowledge. If someone wanted to frame her, then perhaps going after prostitutes was the best way.

Or maybe he was grasping at straws…

His thoughts were dark as the carriage rocked through the night and soon reached the location. Climbing out, he saw the carriage sitting by the water guarded by an officer. The crime was so fresh they were still examining the scene for clues. Striding right up, he made his demands in a loud voice. "What is the evidence concerning my aunt?"

"Ciel Phantomhive!" The officer cried, jumping at he recognized the young earl. "It looks as if she was kidnapped and taken out to sea. There were three other men here, we can tell that from the footprints in the sand. And a boat sat here…"

Ciel moved to look at the footprints in the sand while Sebastian's eyes glowed red, allowing him to see in the dark better. He noticed something in the tall grass that the inspectors had missed: tiny darts. Bending down, he carefully scooped them up and stuck them within the pocket of his butler's jacket. Then he went to join his young master by the sand.

"It seems to me," the inspector was saying. "That by these footprints left in the sand that your aunt and her butler were tied together. See here how their right and left feet move together across the sand? People normally don't walk like that. Maybe some sort of rope was used…"

"So they were kidnapped for sure then…" Ciel stated sadly as he looked at the prints. He duly noted that the sea was rising and all too soon the evidence would be erased by the waves. Raising his eyes, he stared out at the dark expanse of the sea. The water seemed to stretch on forever and it was virtually pitch black out there at this late hour. They had probably been snatched while he had been standing in the alley waiting for Jack the Ripper to show up. Fate was weird that way…it also seemed to favor attacking his relatives. That was the curse of the Phantomhives. Turning, he looked up at his butler. "Sebastian, we need to find out what ships were in the area today."

"At once, My Lord." Sebastian bowed his head regally to the young teenager. "But first I wish to tell you something."

Sensing that Sebastian wished to speak in secret, Ciel headed back to his own carriage and climbed in. "What is it?"

"I found these in the grass, near the carriage." Sebastian held out his white gloved hand, several tiny darts resting on his palm. They had sharp, needle-like tips and bright feathers on the shaft.

"What are they, some sort of dart?" Ciel asked as he bent closer to see the small devices. "I've never seen anything like them before."

"They have the peculiar scent of reaper on them. See the blood on the tips? Whoever kidnapped Madame Red clearly knew that her butler was a reaper and had used these to knock him out with a drug. And by the number of darts I found, it seemed they were forced to use a lot of them. It is not easy to knock one out. Like a demon, they can take a lot of damage."

"You're saying that Grell Sutcliffe is the reaper we're looking for?" The news was shocking and the last thing he suspected, as the man was a horrible butler and totally incompetent.

"I believe he is, yes. And I suspect he knows what I am as well." Sebastian informed his young lord. "I admit it took me some time to see through his disguise, as I had never met a reaper before, but their scent is well known to demons just as our scent is well known to reapers. He covered it up with perfume or else I would have smelled him earlier."

"So if he's a reaper, does that mean he can protect my aunt from the kidnappers?" Ciel asked as mixed emotions warred with each other in his small body. He wanted justice for the killers but he wanted his aunt safe as well, but what if they were both and the same?

"If they don't keep him drugged, yes." The demon explained. "And reapers have a weapon, their death scythe. I suspect even in his butler form he has it on him somewhere or keeps it somewhere he can access it at any moment. But then, we must remember the kidnappers clearly knew what he was and how to deal with him. This makes the kidnappers very dangerous and unpredictable. Who knows what else they might know?"

"I see." Ciel listened to the crash of the waves on the beach and just remembered one of his merchant ships had returned to port that day. He could use it to chase after the kidnappers if need be. "One of our candy ships just came into port today from delivering its cargo down the coast. We shall use it to chase the kidnappers in case they are taking them somewhere. Find out what ships were in port today, especially any odd ones."

Sebastian ran off and returned fifteen minutes later, a long written report ready. "I have talked to people up and down the coast and several reliable people have reported seeing a massive ship with sails that had anchored in this area. It does not seem to be any of the known ships, either. One man described it as a three-masted frigate."

"A frigate? Do they still use those?" The surprise was clear in Ciel's voice. "Sailing ships are on the way out and hardly any are in use anymore, but a frigate? Are you sure the reports are correct, Sebastian?"

"They are, My Lord." The demon nodded, his soft hair hanging down around his face. "One man even called the ship a ghost ship and was clearly frightened very badly of it. He said it was a bad omen and captained by the very devil himself. He stated that as soon as it was spotted, a supernatural fog rolled in off the sea with it."

"The devil?"

"People who live near the sea are often superstitious, My Lord. I have never heard of an actual demon that captained a ship…"

"Take me to the dock where my candy ship is. It seems we must try to follow this frigate and rescue Madame Red and her butler, Grell. Hopefully we'll be able to spot it once the sun rises. And if I understand correctly, it can't go anywhere until the tide goes out, is that correct?"

"I believe so, although I'm no expert on sailing ships." The demon paused as he studied his young master for a moment. "And what if Madame Red and Grell are actually Jack the Ripper?"

"We'll rescue them anyway." Ciel stated firmly.


	4. To the Rescue!

Darker Heart 4

1750

Angelica sat on the hot sand, the voodoo doll of Jack Sparrow in her hands. The urge to strangle it burned through her veins, but she controlled it. Strangling Jack would not get her Daddy's ship back or restore her father to life.

And she very much intended to do both.

She would thwart the cursed Fountain and steal his soul back! And then Jack and that One-Legged Man had better run to the ends of the Earth when she released her fury on them!

A wicked smile crossed her soft lips. Blackbeard wasn't the only one who knew voodoo or dark magic. She saw sails on the horizon and she stood, gathering her scattered clothes off of the nearby shrubs where she had hung them to air. As the ship grew larger, she realized it was familiar, very familiar and her smile broadened. As she shouted to the crew aboard and waved her shirt about in the air, a plan was already forming in her mind.

Yes, the One-Legged Man had better run!

1888

Madame Red rubbed at weary eyes as she climbed the last few steps out of the hold and onto the deck, once again wearing the red gown that the people on this ship apparently considered proper dress. It was a relief not to be squeezed to death by the corset but it felt weird at the same time, like something basic was missing but then maybe corsets weren't that healthy anyway. The blast of fresh but cold sea air woke her up the rest of the way, like a slap in the face. The sun was shining brightly off to one side, still low in the sky but climbing upwards, the few clouds around it tinged with various shades of pink, red, orange and gold. The sky overhead was a dark blue but brightening every moment to a lighter shade. Raising a slender hand to her mouth, she stifled a yawn. She had finally fallen asleep last night through some miracle, but who knew what the hour was by then? Unfortunately, sea sickness was never a thing she had studied or needed a cure for, not living in London. She had regretted that last night.

With the sun rising, she could see the ship much better now. It had three massive masts rising high in the air, the sails a deep blood red marred with dirt and countless holes. Some of the holes looked large to her untrained eye and she couldn't fathom how the ship could possibly sail with the canvas in such awful condition. Yet sailing they were. The deck was long and wide, the wood wet as countless scruffy pirates scrubbed the desk either on hands and knees or with mops.

She paused for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the light, Grell joining her. He was once again in his butler disguise, although she was uncertain how necessary that really was since the captain apparently knew the truth. Turning slightly, she looked down the length of the deck and saw the rising structure in the back, stairs leading upward. She was pretty sure that's where they had had dinner last night, although it all looked so different now in the light of day.

"Morning, poppet." Pintel said as he came over, a wooden bucket of water in one hand. "How'd you sleep last night? You look a might tired."

"Rather poorly, with all of the wave movement," She admitted, deciding to be honest with the man. "Although I am feeling somewhat better now."

The pirate reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cracker about the size of her palm and handed it to her. "If yer feeling the sea sickness ye eat this. The salt in it will help settle yer stomach. Or have some of that ginger root stuff, like in tea. There's tons of the stuff on board."

Madame Red stared at the decidedly stale cracker of questionable cleanliness after being in the pirate's pocket for who knows how long. "Thank you, Pintel."

Ragetti joined them then, a wet mop in his hand. He motioned to the cracker. "You best smash it up first before you try to eat it, unless you want to lose your teeth. Ship biscuits are hard like rocks!"

Pintel laughed. "And ye best not look at it too closely, either…."

Ragetti started laughing too then and Madame Red felt confused. What was the secret about a cracker? Was it supposed to be some sort of dirty joke?

"Just dump it in some tea, let it get good and soggy," Ragetti recommended between loud laughs. "But don't look at it."

"Yeah, a lady like you wouldn't want to look at it." Pintel agreed. He then pointed towards the rear of the ship. "Captain Barbossa is up on the poop deck. That's the deck up above the captain's cabin. He should have some breakfast for you up there."

Still feeling confused about the cracker, she carefully walked between the sailors that was scrubbing the deck and climbed the stairs up to the rear deck. There was the ship's wheel, busy manned by some pirate. And the two officers, Gillette and Groves, were there too. One stood on the left side of the deck and the other on the right side, both busy observing the crew from their higher position. They both grated her silently with a little nod of their head and she smiled sweetly at them in return. She saw the captain then. He had a table set up in the very back of the ship, plates of breakfast set up on it. She even saw a teapot and tea cups with saucers, which surprised her greatly. Barbossa had his peg leg propped up on the side rail of the ship as he sat munching on a green apple, a plate of half eaten pastry in front of him. His wooden crutch was within easy reach. There were also some maps spread out on the table, a small black leather bound book and some odd looking instruments, no doubt things needed to sail the ship.

Then her red eyes darted past the captain to the seascape past the rails of the ship. All she saw was blue waves to the rear and both sides. Turning, she tried to see past the sails that blocked the forward view but really couldn't make out too much at all. Were they in the English Channel and maybe heading for France? Turning back to the captain, she went up to the table where he sat.

"Help yerself to breakfast." Barbossa said as he waved a hand to indicate the food and drink. "I thought ye would appreciate some ginger tea, so I had the cook brew some up. It tastes better if you add some sugar to it, as otherwise it's a might strong."

"Where's the land?" she asked as she could feel her heart starting to pound. She had presumed he would follow the coast so he could go raiding, making an escape much easier but how could they escape if there was no land in sight anywhere?

"We'll naught be seeing land for some time now, Doctor." Barbossa replied as he studied the bitten apple in his hand. "This be the Atlantic, in case ye be a wondering. It's not your itty bitty English Channel."

Her mind went blank for a moment. "But there's nothing out here…"

"Aye, that's what I used to think, too." Barbossa said as he picked up the book and waved it about a bit. "But then I got this fine ship and Blackbeard's rare collection of tomes. Since then I've been discovering lots of things, like about these lay lines. The ancients used to have a trade route between Europe and the Americas, long before there were ever any kings or queens of England, back when they were building the pyramids in Egypt. They had copper mines in the new world, you know. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true. And they used these lay lines to shorten the trip, as why spend months out at sea? And so we're sailing on one of these lines…"

Shock rolled through her as the captain continued to munch on his apple as if they had only been discussing the weather, not hauling them to the other side of the world! It was the last thing she had expected. She felt any hope of escape quickly dying as they sailed further and further out into the empty ocean. She would most likely never see her nephew again or find out what his fate would be. Still, she would try to not let any of that show as a lady had to be polite, carefree and a bit naïve. "Oh? That sounds quite fascinating. I've never been on a sea voyage though so I'm afraid I know nothing about nautical things…"

She saw Grell starting to pour a cup of tea and noted his eyes looked a bit wider than normal, meaning he hadn't expected the new world to be their destination either.

"This naught nautical things, Missy." Barbossa stated as he tossed his apple core overboard, shocking both of them at the rude behavior. "It be black magic."

Madame Red gasped and the tea Grell was pouring missed the cup and went into the saucer.

"You … you mean you summoned a demon?" Madame Red finally asked when she found her voice again, her knees trembling. Feeling weak, she perched herself on an empty chair at the captain's table.

Barbossa laughed loudly, bad teeth revealed. "Who needs a demon? Missy, I'm so evil that the devils down below didn't want me and spat me back out… I can do me own black magic just fine. I must have a talent for it because so far everything I tried worked just fine."

Madame Red didn't know what to say to that.

Grell stared down at the saucer full of tea, clearly unsure what he should do about the current blunder. But Captain Barbossa apparently didn't mind. He picked the tea cup out of the drink filled saucer, messily poured the tea from the saucer into his empty tea cup, added brown sugar, stirred it a bit with a spoon and drank it down in one gulp as if it were rum. "At least it burns like alcohol…"

And that surprised her even more, as the members of high society would never stand for such a blunder from a butler. Of course, Grell was really her partner in crime so she overlooked it but to think the captain didn't see anything wrong with it and then drank it too boot! Her days in high society had never prepared her for someone like Barbossa.

The captain then picked up his half eaten pastry and started picking at it, tearing little bits off and sticking them in his mouth, seemingly enjoying himself as crumbs fell all over his clothing. He waved the remaining bit of pastry in their direction. "Apple. I like me apples. They cost a king's fortune in the Caribbean. Good thing I got more wealth than the King, arrgh?"

"Excuse me?" She asked, thinking she must have heard wrong. How could this pirate be wealthier than the king?

"We're going to the Caribbean." Barbossa stated as he picked up another green apple from the fruit bowl. "But I warn you, Doctor, the Caribbean is off the edge of the map. There are monsters there."

"Captain." Lieutenant Groves stated firmly as he stood at attention a short distance away, hands folded behind his back. "Sails have been spotted on the horizon. It appears someone is following us."

"Oh, are they now?" Barbossa's blue eyes widened with interest as he gripped his bad leg and lifted it off the railing, allowing it to drop to the hard deck. Snatching his crutch from where he had left it, he leaned on it heavily and forced himself to his foot. Striding the short distance to the rear rail, he stared at the tiny speck behind them. Holding out his hand palm upward, he accepted the telescope from his first officer. After looking through it for a few moments, he sighed. "It appears to just be some merchant vessel, not worth robbing. Here I practically sail into London with the Queen Anne's Revenge and naught a lobster or uptight commodore to greet me."

"What are your orders, Sir?" Groves asked as he accepted his telescope back.

"Keep an eye on it." Barbossa decided swiftly. "If she grows closer then we'll deal with her, but she may just be taking a similar route as we are. Still, we'll be at the coordinates soon and then it won't matter…"

Madam Red didn't like the sound of that, even though she had no idea what it meant, but it suggested something, something bad possibly. She strained her eyes to see the ship they were discussing, but couldn't see anything at all, just the intense blue of the sea and the sky. And staring at it for too long seemed to make odd spots dance before her eyes and then she was forced to look away. It was so open and immense out there; it was like staring into forever. It made her feel small and unimportant and more importantly, fragile. The ship creaked and groaned around and under her, the sounds rubbing on her nerves even though she tried her best to stay calm and ignore them. How old was this ship anyway? Was it even sea worthy? What if it fell apart?

And what of the merchant ship that was behind them? Was it just a merchant as the captain said or was it Ciel trying to rescue them? Had he learned they were gone yet, kidnapped?

Realizing there was nothing she could do, she accepted the cup of tea and plate of breakfast from her butler; thankful she wasn't alone.

000

"How can that ship move so fast?" Ciel demanded of the captain of his candy ship, Sweet Sensations, as he studied the distant ship through a telescope. "It appears to have hundreds of holes in its sails! Surely it should be dead in the water, shouldn't it?"

"I don't like the looks of that ship, Earl Phantomhive." The captain stated nervously as he stood on the aft deck of the small merchant vessel. "There's something unnatural about her…"

"I don't care if you don't like how she looks! We need to catch up to it!" Ciel cried angrily, his single blue eye flashing hotly at the older man that worked for him. Personally, he had never met the man before or even knew his name; he just knew he owned the ship and it delivered his candy up and down the coast with efficiency. His factory was turning out salt water taffy, candy corn and licorice by the ton and it still wasn't enough. "Don't you understand? That ship has kidnapped the Baroness, my aunt, and I intend to rescue her!"

"Well, we're smaller and lighter than she is, so we should be able to catch up if the wind continues to favor us…" The Captain stared at the towering frigate that was far ahead of them. "But I only ever heard of one ship with blood red sails like that and I wouldn't want to go up against it in my worst nightmares, not for all of the treasure the Queen has. They still talk about it in whispers, you know…"

Ciel turned to regard the older man with curiosity now. "What do they say?"

"Her name was the Queen Anne's Revenge and she sailed over one hundred and fifty years ago. She was a pirate ship, one of the most famous pirate ships at that. Legend says she even attacked other pirates and sailed under the blackest of magic. She was captained by Blackbeard, otherwise known as Edward Teach. There are all sorts of rumors about him, like he had undead working for him and that he kept living after his head was chopped clear off! Who knows what's true and what's a tall tale? But he was a very successful pirate and was good at what he did. He sacked both towns and other ships, always adding to his fleet of ships. We may be chasing a ghost ship…I know you probably don't believe in the supernatural, but work out here and you see things you just can't explain and I wouldn't want to mess with no ghost ship. That'll be bad luck!"

"Blackbeard?" Ciel repeated in confusion. Why would Blackbeard kidnap his aunt? "Could it be a ship pretending to be the Revenge?"

"I suppose…" the captain admitted as he thought about it. "But where would you get a frigate like that these days? But what concerns me the most right now is the fact she hasn't turned."

"So?" Ciel didn't see what that had to do with anything.

"It means she's planning on crossing the Atlantic to the New World. We're not outfitted for such a voyage, for one. We just arrived in port and you ordered us back out on the morning tide. We didn't have a chance to refresh our supplies yet and even then, we're used to sailing along the coast, not out in the open ocean…"

"The waves will be a lot bigger, My Lord." Sebastian helpfully added from where he stood next to his young master. "If we encounter bad weather on the open sea, this small ship may capsize."

"I see…" Ciel frowned and walked the short distance to the railing, his ever loyal butler following him. His gaze automatically went upward to the demon he depended on for so many things. "What do you sense from that ship? Is it truly the Revenge or an imposter?"

Sebastian focused his dark eyes on the ship ahead of them, his eyes narrowing and turning scarlet red, slit-like pupils appearing for a moment. The sea breeze lifted his fine black locks off of his forehead, fluttering them in the wind. He stretched his supernatural senses outward, scanning the large frigate that sailed before them. "I fear, My Lord, that it is indeed the Revenge, as she is saturated with dark energy, the magic reeking off of her in waves."

Ciel turned to study the other ship again, raising the captain's telescope to his single good eye. They were closer now and he could see more detail on the other ship. The wooden structure at the back of the ship rose almost straight up into the air at a steep angle, the superstructure partly hanging above the rolling sea and the hull was the same dirty maroon as the torn sails. A large glass lantern hung from a chain at the back of the ship, the lantern almost shaped like a big bird cage. And up at the top of the rear rail there were smaller glass lanterns. The name "Queen Anne's Revenge" was clearly visible now, too. A frown crossed his lips after reading the words. He had hoped it just to be an imposter, but the actual pirate ship? "Sebastian, how could that possibly be the Queen Anne's Revenge? Shouldn't she be a rotten hulk by now and where has she been up until this sighting? Why has no one seen her before?"

"There are … possibilities, My Lord." Sebastian stated carefully as he also fixed his gaze onto the other ship. "If the pirate captain has truly studied black magic he may have discovered secrets that only supernatural creatures normally know about. I would not put it past him, not with the amount of magic reeking off that ship. But the dark arts are not our biggest concerns. It is the ship herself."

"So she is well armed I take it." Ciel's frown increased. "You have no problem catching bullets. What about cannonballs?"

"That would be more problematic. They are larger and have more force behind them and I fear they will fire them all at once; if I miss even one than this ship may be destroyed and sunk. The crew on her is no doubt well trained and can reload the cannons within minutes." The demon was silent for a moment. "Nor have I ever tried to stop a cannonball before. It may very well tear through me and then it will take time to regenerate parts. They can easily blast off arms and legs…"

"So we're a sitting duck then." Ciel fumed as he looked through the telescope again. He could see people on the ship now, most noticeably a tall man with a round feathered hat staring back at him. His blue eyes were piercing even at this distance and sent chills down his spine. Surely that man must be the infamous Blackbeard? "Sebastian, I have not come this far to give up now. We must come up with a plan on how to rescue Madame Red and Grell off of that ship, even if our ship is weaponless."

"You are asking for the impossible."

"I don't care." The young boy said stubbornly as he glared at the demon that was bound to him. "You have always succeeded before and I'm confident you will now. That man may be a pirate but you're a demon. Surely between the two you are the stronger? Find a way to do what I wish."

The demon did not look too happy or confident.

000

"Captain," Groves called politely as he stood at attention. "The merchant ship is closing, Sir."

"Is she now?" Barbossa's blue eyes lit up as the words left his mouth, the leather bound book grasped in his hands. "Perhaps they'd like to take a little trip with us, but let us look her over first."

Barbossa moved to the rear rail again, his sharp eyes no longer needing the telescope to see the other ship. She was a lightweight ship made for the calm coastal waters and not the open sea she was currently sailing in, the wind pushing her fast over the large waves. She was already cresting each wave and falling into the hollow between them instead of crashing through them as the Revenge was doing. That told him she was a merchant with an empty belly, no cargo or very little. He could see some little runt full of misplaced self-importance standing on the rear poop deck along with some overdressed fellow in black. The actual captain of the ship was easy to spot and he looked properly terrified. And not a single cannon port in sight.

Finishing her tea and wiping her mouth with a napkin, Madame Red stood and carefully made her way to the captain's side. Gripping the tall wooden rail at the back of the ship, she was startled to see her young nephew on the other ship. His butler, Sebastian, was by his side. At first she was thrilled to see them, as she was sure she would never see her darling nephew ever again, but horror quickly replaced it as she saw the captain spin on his boot heel and started to shout orders.

"Hoist the colors!" Barbossa cried loudly as he strode away from the rail. "Let's give our guests a proper welcome."

Groves repeated the order, shouting it down to the deck crew. "Hoist the colors!"

Down on the main deck, Pintel and Ragetti ran with a large black and white bundle of fabric, the fabric being mostly black. They hooked it up to a strong rope and started to haul it up, shaking the fabric out as it climbed towards the sky. Soon the wind caught it and the flag unfurled itself, revealing a laughing skull with two crossed swords under it. Within seconds the flag was at the top of the main mast where it was easy for anyone to see.

Barbossa watched his flag flap in the stiff magical breeze, glad he had bought a new one in Tortuga as the other one was still on the Pearl. Apparently satisfied, he went up to the table and removed the lid from an ornate snuff box. Reaching within, he removed two handfuls of some mysterious grey powder that certainly was not snuff at all. Throwing his arms out wide and his head back, he cried out in a loud voice. "By the gods of sea and sky, I command you to open!"

He flung the mysterious powder up into the air, the stiff breeze snatching it and sweeping it around in crazy circles before it vanished from sight.

Madame Red watched in amazement, her mouth open at the odd ritual she had just witnessed. She took one uncertain step away from the rear railing, meaning to ask the captain what that had been all about, when a blazing white glow appeared before the front of the ship. The suddenness of the brightness almost blinded her and she raised an arm to help shield her eyes. Carefully peering at it, she saw it was shaped like a giant half circle that sat upon the sea's face, the white archway taller than the ship and wider, too. She gawked at it, feeling totally lost and confused.

The half eaten pastry in his hand forgotten, Grell hurried to her side. "He's opened a portal! I didn't think a human could open one…"

"A portal to where?" She asked him as her red eyes were now adjusting to the odd whiteness directly in front of the ship.

Barbossa started laughing then, his deck crew joining him. Only Gillette and Groves didn't join in, apparently too well trained as officers to act like that.

"I don't know." Grell admitted. "You don't know where a portal goes until you're on the other side."

000

"He's opened a portal!" Sebastian shouted as soon as he saw the circular glow manifest itself in front of the Revenge. "If he goes through, we'll lose him!"

"I thought he was going to turn around and fire on us!" Ciel cried as he too stared at the bright white glow. "Isn't that why he raised that pirate flag?"

"Apparently not." Sebastian quickly snatched a grappling hook off the deck, one that was attached to a long stout rope. Racing to the front of the merchant ship, he started to twirl it about in the air and then let it fly, putting all of his demon strength into it. If it would catch on the upper railing in the rear of the ship, then he could possibly do something.

"Don't miss!" Ciel ordered as he joined him at the bow of the Sweet Sensations.

With held breath, they watched as the four prong hook flew up and up, the wind helping to carry it along and then crashed to the poop deck of the Revenge. The long metal prongs got caught between the vertical boards on the railing, the grappling hook securing itself. Using his strong arm muscles and inhuman strength, Sebastian quickly pulled on the rope, causing their smaller craft to come closer and closer to the large one.

And before they could do anything else, the Revenge passed through the portal and they were dragged along with it.


	5. An Evil Plan

Darker Heart 5

1750

Angelica stepped out of the long boat onto the sand of the unnamed island, hoping that it was the right one. There were a lot of nameless islands here in the chain and she didn't have time to go searching them all. It was incredible fortune on her part that one of the other ships in her father's fleet had been the one to find her after being marooned by Jack. After telling them the tale, they had been more than willing to help her restore Blackbeard to life and get the _Revenge_ back. Thanks to Blackbeard, they were all filthy rich and very successful pirates. So they were willing to do a bit more than pirates ordinarily would. "This had better be the right island. I don't have time to waste."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The Quartermaster, named Menace, asked her. "That thing was a bloody hazard and after all of this time, I doubt there would be much left…"

"I don't need much for the dark magic to work…" Angelica stated with confidence as she strode down the sandy beach, a noxious stench already filling her nose. It was worst then dead fish left on a hot deck or a corpse left to rot in an enclosed room, both of which she had had the pleasure of finding over the years. The awful stink gave her hope and she quickened her pace, her boots digging into the deep sand with ease. A dark shape appeared then, hulking and with myriad birds flying around it. "There it is!"

Menace pulled a cloth over his nose and mouth, securing it in place. "That thing stinks! Let it be, Angelica! The sea was not safe while it was alive and everyone was glad when it died! And what if you can't control it? What if it sinks our ship?"

"It won't!" She promised as she walked up to the giant shape on the sand. "It will become a zombie under my control, just like my father's zombies obeyed him. It will do whatever I tell it to do."

Menace stopped several feet away from the rotting corpse, not willing to get any closer. "But it's not a human. It doesn't have a human's intelligence. How will it know who to attack?"

"But it was smart. I have studied its smaller cousins and they are very intelligent. They know how to think, plan and be clever. You may not believe that, amigo, but it is true." Angelica pointed out as she walked alongside it, studying what was left. There was the big cuttlebone that made up the majority of the creature's head. To her delight, some of the outer skin was still there, mummified to hard dried leather from the sun. Other bits of it was there, too, the body simply too large even for the countless sea birds to consume. Chunks were missing almost everywhere, proof that things had been feasting on its dead body. She had expected it to be wet and slimy, decayed but instead it looked hard and dry as an old boot sole. Boldly, she kicked the nearest part of it with her boot and was delighted to see it stayed together. "All I need to do is a restoration spell and then make it a zombie. It will then do whatever I wish it to."

Menace stood there silently, frowning and looking anxious.

Setting the materials she had brought with her down onto the hot sand, Angelica got to work. A smile twisted her lips as she imagined the moment the monstrosity would awaken and push itself back into the waves. Then it would be hers to command.

Nothing could stop her then, not even that One-Legged Man.

-000

The _Revenge_ emerged from the portal into a wildly heaving sea, hard slanting rain striking the deck with the sharp sting of tiny ice pellets. The ship leaped upward like shot from a pistol and tilted sideways at a crazy angle. Not expecting the brutal shift from a relatively calm sea to a raging storm, Madame Red felt herself falling backward as she lost her balance due to the tilting deck. A moment of red hot fear flashed through her, her chest feeling constricted, as she imagined falling into the sea and drowning. Her back struck the deck then, momentarily knocking the air out of her. The next second Grell fell atop of her, as he seemed to suffer horrible balance in his human form, his added weight crushing her a bit. The deck seemed to tilt more then and she felt herself starting to slide across the now soaking wet boards. Wrapping her arms about Grell's narrow waist, she clung to him tightly as they slid over the deck and towards the side rail.

Lightning flashed overhead, momentarily lighting the scene with its multi-forked tongue of power. Barbossa stumbled backwards several rapid steps, his wooden peg thumping loudly on the wet deck. Somehow he caught his balance then and headed up the slanting deck towards the ship's wheel.

Eerie laughter, as if from some demented specter, floated through the storm and it took Madame Red some time before she realized it was the captain making the creepy sound. To her, it seemed as if they were about to die in what surely must be a hurricane and why in the world was he laughing?

The table tilted, its contents sliding off and falling to the deck with a loud clatter. The teapot, cups and saucers smashed into sharp ceramic bits and fruit went tumbling everywhere. The other things fell off the table then, the now soaking wet maps getting caught up around the table's leg by the gushing wind and the odd grey powder turning into wet sludge on the deck as the snuff box fell open, spilling its prize.

The railing was coming up rapidly, its wooden spokes growing larger and larger as they slid towards it. Between the spaces she could see the tossing grey water. The waves seemed to have no idea which way they were supposed to go and appeared to be fighting each other in white capped madness, bits of cold spray often shooting high into the air. It was without a doubt the most frightening thing she had ever seen. She braced herself for impact, knowing it was going to hurt and just hoped that the boards they were rushing at would hold. At the last second before impact, she had enough sense to snatch her hands away so they wouldn't get crushed between the hard rails and Grell's back. As a doctor, the thing she needed the most was her hands and she certainly couldn't afford to damage them. As a Shinigami, she figured he could most likely take the injury better than she could anyway. They hit the rail then, Grell moaning at the impact, but to her relief the wood held.

The _Sweet Sensations_ was faring no better and was doing worse in the violent sea. The ship was picked up and carried sideways rapidly, like a bit of cork on a wave. The next moment it was slammed into the side of the Queen Anne's Revenge, the harsh impact knocking anyone still on their feet off of them. Crew members fell screaming into the sea and Ciel almost fell overboard himself, but Sebastian managed to grab him by his ankle, the young earl hanging upside-down for long heart-stopping seconds as he stared at the angry grey waves. A whitecap flashed upward, dunking his face in the cold saltwater and almost made him choke as he struggled for air. Then the demon yanked him back up onto the deck, pressing his small body securely against his side.

And then Sebastian used his demon powers to leap high upwards, easily clearing the tall railing on the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ and landing nimbly on the slanted deck. His feet slid out from under him momentarily and he found himself sliding on the wet surface that had rivulets of water streaming across it. The captain's table was before him and he realized in a flash it was bolted securely to the floor. He reached out and caught a leg in his hand and pulled them towards it, shoving Ciel under the piece of furniture. Seeing the table leg, Ciel clung to it gratefully as the ship began to tilt back the other way.

Ciel's dark blue hair was soaking wet and he had long lost his top hat. He could feel water running down his face and he used a free hand to shove his wet bangs out of his single blue eye so he could see something, anything, in this madness. Wrapping his thin legs about the strong table leg, he clung to it for his very life. Looking up, he could see his demon crouching under the table, his eyes glowing a sinister shade of red in the darkness of the storm.

"Wait here." Sebastian said to him. "Do not let go of the table."

As the ship tilted the other way, Madame Red felt them began to slide again. The wet deck was as slippery as ice, even if the wood itself was rough from years of use and she felt them pick up speed all too quickly. She resisted the urge to shriek, as it was not ladylike at all or maybe she was just too scared to do so. Grell however had no such qualms and was making enough noise for the both of them, his howls almost drowning out the loud crashes of thunder and the crash of the waves.

She saw two burning bits of coals then and as first thought they were flames, but then realized they were eyes. They were red as blood and had long slit-like pupils, akin to a snake. Lightning flashed, brightening the deck to daytime standards for a brief moment and in that second she had seen Sebastian crouched under the captain's table. His hair had been soaked and pasted to his forehead, his skin the usual pale it always was but his eyes … they had been red like flames!

The sight startled her, as she had momentarily forgotten that Grell had suspected Sebastian of being a demon. Seeing those eyes, it had been more than enough proof.

They were sliding past the table rapidly, the deck tilting further and a white hand flashed out. It got a grip on Grell's long dark brown ponytail and the next moment they were both yanked under the table, Sebastian's strong arm encircling both of their waists. The demon's other hand was securely wrapped around one of the table legs.

"Oh, Sebas-chan, you saved me!" Grell cried happily to the demon that was now pressed against his back.

"Of course," Sebastian replied as he ignored the nickname he had just been called. "A butler who cannot save those under his charge is not worth his salt."

Curtains of water fell around them, the streams cascading off of the table above them. The ship continued to tilt this way and that but slowly the storm began to lessen in its intensity. The thunder faded away to nothing, the waves grew calm and the sky began to brighten. A ray of sunlight peaked out from behind the scattering clouds, throwing shadows onto the deck.

Slowly Madame Red let go of Grell's waist and crawled out from underneath the table. To her amazement the sky was already a crystal blue and the water was now the most amazing shade of blue-green she had ever seen. A blazing hot sun beat down on her and she could feel the strands of her short red hair already drying. She heard the loud thump of the captain's peg and slowly turned to face him. To her utter amazement, he had somehow kept his big round feathered hat throughout the storm and she couldn't figure how he had done that, as surely it would have been blown away by the gusting winds!

"Welcome to the Caribbean, Doctor." Barbossa said with a wide grin. "Nasty little squall, err?"

"A squall? You mean that wasn't a hurricane?" She asked stupidly as she stared at him.

"Nay, it was just a squall. It took us by surprise is all…a real hurricane would be a hundred times worst." Barbossa replied as he took in the mess of broken teapot and soaking wet maps on the floor. It didn't seem to bother him any though as he ignored it, instead focusing on his new guests. He watched with narrowed cold eyes as Ciel and Sebastian crawled out from underneath the table, the demon helping Grell to his feet. Barbossa's hand inched to the hilt of his sword, his fingers wrapping around it but not drawing it forth yet. "And who might ye be? Yer be mighty reckless taking to the open sea in a thing like that…"

"I am Earl Ciel Phantomhive, Watchdog to the Queen. I order you to let my aunt and her butler go or you'll be sorry!" Ciel threatened, his single blue eye flashing with anger at the man before him.

"Oh, is that so?" Barbossa said as he drew his sword, the metal scraping loudly on the scabbard as it came free. He held it freely in his right hand, the grayish metal reflecting the now bright sunlight. His officers, Gillette and Groves, joined him; one on either side of their captain; their left arms shoving their officer coats out of the way so they could draw their swords quickly if need be. "And where be your sword, young Earl? Are ye going to fight me with words perhaps?"

"I have Sebastian." Ciel replied, indicating his ever loyal butler. "I assure you he has defeated many others, so I suggest you cooperate with my wishes."

"And where are ye going to go?" Barbossa asked the young boy. "Perhaps ye be planning on growing wings and flying to the nearest isle, aye?"

Ciel gazed at the pirate, clearly confused. "What do you mean?"

"Your ship sunk." Barbossa simply stated. "And I don't take kindly to passengers on the _Revenge_. If ye want to stay aboard and not feed the hungry mermaids, then you'll join me crew and work."

"What?" Ciel ran to the side rail and peered into the water, arriving just in time to see the top of the mast of the Sweet Sensations disappearing under the blue-green waves. "Sebastian, our ship sank! What are we going to do?"

"I did tell you, My Lord, it was unlikely to ride out a storm." The demon reminded his young charge. "We may be forced to accept his employment offer."

Ciel frowned, apparently not exactly liking the idea. "Very well, but I wish to know why you kidnapped my aunt."

"Because I needed a doctor and my dark magic spell I cast led me to her. Do ye think I like having the ship's carpenter or perhaps the cook do surgeries? I amputated me own leg last time and I'll not be doing that again." Barbossa replied truthfully, grimacing at the memory. "And I assure you she will be paid handsomely in gold. The doctor is always the third highest paid person upon the ship, right behind me and me officers."

Madame Red stared at him utterly astonished. "You amputated your own leg? How in the world did you survive? The pain alone can kill a person and then you'd have to find the major arteries to tie off…"

"I did what needed done. That and I'm a survivor. Blackbeard paid for it with his life," Barbossa smiled evilly as he waved the sword in the air. "I ran my poisoned blade right through him."

"But…" Ciel said as he looked at the scruffy pirate captain in confusion. "I thought you were Blackbeard!"

"Nay, child, I not be he. If I were, you'd be locked in that cage hanging off of the rear of the ship and being roasted alive. It's what he used to do." Barbossa explained sourly. "He enjoyed torturing people, burning them alive for his own pleasure. And he didn't honor the Code, the Pirate Code that pirates live by. As one of the nine Pirate Lords, I dispensed justice and got my revenge. Hector Barbossa is my name."

There was silence for a moment.

Madame Red still couldn't understand how in the world he could have survived amputating his own leg. It just didn't make sense to her, no matter how she looked at it. The pain would have surely knocked him out and then he would have bled to death rapidly. And how could he have cut through his own leg bone? Did he actually have the nerve and mettle to saw through the bone while in some odd sitting position, blood spraying everywhere?

"And before ye be thinking of doing any other foolish thing, welcome to 1750! The world ye knew is just a distant memory now and I not be likely to be going back there any time soon, unless I have to."

"Portals can't take you back in time, can they?" Ciel asked his demon. "Surely he is jesting about the year."

"Not that I am aware of…" Sebastian replied somewhat uncertainly. "But I was not aware that humans could open portals, either. Perhaps they can do things I'm unaware of. There is also the fact I am more familiar with Europe, as I've never traveled to the New World before…"

"I care naught if you believe the year or not; just that you do your jobs." Barbossa said as he shifted his gaze to the oddly dressed demon. "And exactly what are ye supposed to be in that getup? That is, what can ye do?"

"I am merely one hell of a butler." Sebastian replied with a smile and a polite bow. "I can do almost anything you desire: cook, clean, make perfect tea, serve meals, anything really…"

"Fine. You can cook then and serve me and me officers." Barbossa decided as he put his sword away. He then pointed at Ciel. "And he can help you. The two of you can start by cleaning up this mess on me poop deck. And then you can bring us our lunch. The galley is down below."

Sebastian bent and started to gather the broken pieces of the teapot, cups and saucers, obedient as ever.

Ciel grimaced in disgust but started to pick up some of the larger pieces himself. He suspected his demon was planning on fixing it somehow with his magic and would want all of the pieces. "How degrading. Earls are not meant to do this stuff…"

"Be careful," Sebastian warned him. "Some of the pieces can be sharp."

Barbossa grinned as he saw the two new crew members hard at work, even if one of them was complaining a tad bit. They were all entitled to their opinions. Turning to Madame Red and Grell, he fixed his piercing blue eyes on them. "Well, Doctor, it's time for you and your assistant to start treating me crew. Lieutenant Groves will show you to the area where you'll be working. And you'll be glad to know we've stolen lots of medical supplies for you to use."

The wide grin on the captain's face made her feel sick. Stealing medical supplies, really, how low could he sink? But then she recalled the screams of the women she had murdered and realized that she was no better than he was. Dutifully she followed Groves off of the poop deck and back down into the belly of the ship, lifting her skirts on the stairs so she wouldn't trip. Touching the fine material of the dress, she was shocked to find it almost dry already, even though very little time had passed.

And it was growing hot, really hot.

She had seen drawings of the Caribbean, colored paintings of exotic palm trees and odd creatures like monkeys. She had never dreamed of actually going there but here she was. But it was said to be hot and sunny, and filled with strange tropical diseases.

To her dismay, they went down yet another flight of stairs and then headed for the front of the ship, the area the lieutenant had called 'the bow'. They passed through dark passages filled with strange barrels, boxes and things that must be the ship's supplies or cargo. There was also an area that had cages, cages big enough to hold people and seeing them gave her the chills. Shapes seem to dart past her in the darkness but she was sure she just imagined it. After living through that squall, well, her nerves were still jumping. There were lit lanterns hanging from the ceiling, but they didn't provide enough light in her opinion, not that she was scared of the dark. The night and the dark were old friends of hers; it was just the situation she was not used to yet.

Stopping, Groves opened a door and stepped aside, "Your sick room, Doctor. Your supplies are already inside."

She watched him walk away and then headed into the room, uncertain what to expect. There were several narrow cots pressed against the walls, with barely any space between them at all. The rear held some cabinets and opening one, she saw a wide assortment of medical supplies, all of it stolen. Her case of surgical tools sat upon the table and to her relief, they were all there.

The wave movement here was much more pronounced and she could hear an odd but constant sloshing sound of water against the hull. Almost unconsciously her red eyes turned to regard the shape of the room, noting it was triangular more or less. She suspected by the loud gurgling sounds that they were under the waterline and she had this uncanny fear that a leak might develop without warning. The more intelligent part of her mind insisted it was unlikely to happen, but she still thought it none the same. Placing her palm on the steady tabletop, she leaned on it for a moment due to the movement of the ship. She still wasn't exactly used to it.

She noticed a weird odor in the room, but the entire ship seemed to stink of one thing or another. Still, the smell was cloying and darted straight up her nose, making it difficult to breath. Somehow it smelled different than the sweat and stench of the deck above, the floor where their personal quarters was located. This scent was stronger, sharper and overpowering. But then, the room only seemed to have the one door and she didn't see any other form of ventilation, so maybe it just needed some airing?

"Am I supposed to help you treat humans?" Grell asked her as he looked around the small cramped space. "I'm used to taking lives, not healing…"

"The captain mentioned using carpenters and cooks as surgeons. That means he will use anyone with the ability or knowledge as a doctor." Madame Red pointed out as she thought about what the older man had said. "He knows you were helping me murder the girls, so in his eyes you have experience already."

"Experience in murdering, yes!" Grell pointed out dramatically as he waved a pale hand in the air. "I don't know anything about healing humans. When they get sick, they die and I reap them."

"I wouldn't say that so loud!" She hissed at him as she glanced towards the open door, afraid someone might overhear. "Do you want to get tossed overboard?"

"Oh heavens no! All of that salt water would ruin my perfect skin!"

"Well, then you had best pretend you're helping me treat people." Madame Red started looking into the cabinets and making a list of the supplies they had. "Did you hear the captain talking about his amputation?"

"Yes. So what about it?" Grell asked in a bored tone.

"It means we can chop people's arms and legs off of them while they're alive and conscious. The blood will fly everywhere. One of us will have to chop while the other one holds the person down on the table…"

Grell's yellow-green eyes grew wide at her words. "And they pay us to do that? Are they insane or something?"

"It's what doctors do." She simply stated as she checked what medicines she had. "But people need to get badly injured before they require an amputation, but I think injuries on a ship were common."

"Well, it still sounds like fun." The reaper grinned, his shark-like teeth appearing.

TBC...


	6. A New Mystery

Darker Heart 6

And it was fun, for about five minutes.

Grell shrieked like the lady he always claimed he was as something bit him viciously on his leg, just above his red and black boots. Glancing down, he grimaced in horror. "A RAT, a rat bit me!"

The large black rodent was clinging to his pant leg, its sharp teeth in his tender flesh. He shook his leg but the dirty creature kept clinging to him and refused to let go. He could feel its sharp little claws through the material of his pant leg, the claw tips digging into his skin. A long almost naked tail twisted around his leg to allow the rodent a more secure grip, the tail itself covered with very fine stiff hairs. "Get off of me, you filthy thing!"

Madame Red shrieked as well when she saw it, her red eyes filled with panic as the word 'disease' popped into her brain. Everyone knew rats carried all sorts of horrid diseases and to be bit by one was the worst thing that could happen. Frantic, she looked about wildly for something solid to hit it with. Snatching the only thing within reach, her black metal case of surgical tools, she gripped it solidly with both hands and swung it as hard as she could at the plump rodent. It was a direct blow. The rat squealed loudly and let go of the reaper, dropping to the floor and scurried into a dark corner. Just before it vanished from sight, she was sure she saw it hiss at her in a threatening manner, long yellow incisors flashing in the candlelight.

Now she knew what that strong odor was from: rats!

Looking around, now she noticed their shiny little eyes staring out at them from the dark spots of the room: under the cots, behind the cabinets, along the dark areas along the wall where the light didn't reach… they were everywhere! And every surface she touched was tacky, sticky. It was enough to twist her stomach. The entire place needed a cleaning.

And their filthy droppings were everywhere, too. They were like little black raisins, scattered everywhere. It was disgusting beyond belief. She had realized that pirates were rough and smelly vile cutthroats but to think they allowed rodents to breed wild on the ship. What was Barbossa thinking? Didn't he realize that the Black Death, which had run wild through England in the Fourteenth Century, had been carried by rats? They would ruin the food and supplies and everything else as well. Rodents were always gnawing on things. They needed to wear their constantly growing teeth down, that and they loved chewing. Wood could be damaged by their teeth just as easily as cloth or food or rope; it mattered not to the rat what the material was.

Grell grimaced and his eyes flashed yellow in anger. In a blink the mild-mannered butler exposed his sharp shark teeth as he dropped his fake "I'm innocent" act. His chainsaw was whipped out of the aether, the deadly weapon roaring to life with harsh grinding sounds. He raised his arm in preparation to strike the nearest rodent.

"Grell, stop!" Madame Red cried as she gripped his arm, the one holding the deadly weapon. "You'll sink the ship! We're under the waterline!"

Her words sunk into his brain and he paused, lowering the heavy weapon slowly. The yellow faded from his eyes as they took on the normal greenish cast. "We have to do something about these rodents!"

"Yes, I agree. These are impossible working conditions!" Madame Red huffed, still feeling uneasy about the dozens of shiny eyes staring at her. It was creepy to have them watching her like that and to think one had been bold enough to bite Grell! "We need to get that bite treated right away and then go see the captain about these filthy creatures!"

"I've been injured worst than this…" Grell admitted as he calmed down once the initial shock had worn off. A rat bite couldn't really do him anything or at least he didn't think it could. Besides, their teeth weren't really that long. "It just startled me is all, not that I like the filthy things…"

Madame Red quickly fetched a bottle of some liquid and bent to hoist Grell's pant leg up. Once the wound was exposed, he studied it for a moment. Blood was pouring out of the bite and running down Grell's leg onto his precious boots. The bite itself was two tiny punctures, side by side and as long as your average grain of rice. Yes, she knew it didn't look bad now but it was a rat and rats carried disease. Quickly she poured the liquid onto the injury. Grell hissed in pain as the contents of the bottle stung. "You're lucky you're immortal."

"It takes a lot more to hurt me than a little rat!" Grell proclaimed loudly as he kept watch on the tiny eyes peering at him from the dark gaps. "But how are we going to get rid of them? They're everywhere!"

"Maybe the captain has rat traps…" Madame Red said hopefully but doubtfully. If he had such traps then why wasn't he using them? Or didn't he ever come down here to this deck? She recalled how Barbossa had just tossed the apple core away carelessly over the rail. Did he do that with other food, just toss the remains every where he was? Did the crew do it as well? If so, no wonder they had a fat and healthy looking rat population! The more she thought of it, the more upset she grew. People couldn't live that way; it bred vermin! "These pirates are worst than I thought!"

Madame Red put away her bottle of foaming agent and gathered her skirts in her hand. "Come along, Grell. We're going to see the Captain about these horrid conditions!"

000

Ciel stood in the galley of the Queen Anne's Revenge feeling lost and useless. Staring at the big woodstove and other cooking utensil made it perfectly clear how utterly useless he really was. He knew what a stove was and a pot and pan but that was as far as his knowledge went. His poor finger thumped along with his heart and he sucked on the tiny cut without thinking about it. The fact he had managed to slice his finger on a sharp shard of teapot even after Sebastian had warmed him, well, that was just pathetic. The taste of copper filled his mouth, causing him to want to spit but he didn't. He was Earl Phantomhive and earl's didn't spit and certainly not around food.

"Sebastian, what am I going to do?" Ciel asked him while hating how weak he sounded. "I don't know how to cook!"

The demon laughed. "You are too short to cook anyway…"

Ciel realized it was true. There was no way he could reach the top of the stove easily. "Yes, I see that is true but you know I'm only thirteen."

"If you had been eating the spinach I have been feeding you, you might be taller by now." Sebastian pointed out with a smile. "Of course, you always preferred sweet things to healthful ones. No wonder your fiancé is taller than you are!"

"She is not!" Ciel quickly cried, feeling embarrassed by the statement and forgetting his current predicament for a moment. But then it came rushing back and he knew he was now a prisoner on the massive pirate ship. He watched silently as Sebastian effortlessly fixed the broken items with his demon powers, the fine china being restored without the slightest imperfection. He sighed wearily. "All right, maybe I am short and maybe I ate too many cakes and parfaits, but none of that helps with this mess we're in."

"I am just your pawn, My Lord. You must make the decisions as always." Sebastian informed him as he took a moment to survey the galley around them. The room was well lit with many candles and swinging lanterns, which pleased him. There were also sturdy wooden tables, their surfaces marred by an endless series of overlapping cuts, where food could be prepped. Sebastian quickly checked the cabinets to see what was available. He quickly discovered giant pots, baking pans, sharp knives, big spoons and other assorted things meant for cooking. Once he finished his examination, he stood with a white gloved finger by his chin. "Hmmm…there doesn't seem to be any food in this kitchen. Where do you think they store it?"

Ciel shrugged. At the moment he really didn't care as an oppressing gloom came down upon him. It wasn't just the fact that his ship had sunk or the fact they were captured by pirates; he was confident that Sebastian could deal with that, but the disturbing matter with his aunt…

"What is it, Bocchan?" Sebastian asked as he took a moment to kneel before the young boy and fix his tie as it had come undone. Swiftly a neat bow was tied about his young charge's neck. After living through the squall Ciel looked very bedraggled, his hair swiftly drying but in wild disarray. The butler pulled a comb from the pocket of his neat uniform and took time to run it through his young charge's hair, tidying it. Soon it was as neat as before and the black eye patch was put on him again.

"Do you… do you think she really did it?" Ciel asked somewhat hesitantly. He really didn't want to think the cruel murderer he was searching for was his own beloved Aunt Red! How could it be true? He knew her! She was his mother's sister, his own flesh and blood! And the murders, they were the work of some twisted madman. Surely the two couldn't be the same, could they? If she were insane, he would know, wouldn't he? Angelina had always been kind and sweet to him. She could be a bit firm, yes, but she wasn't a vicious murderer … was she? He had swept it aside before in his fevor to find her again but now the uneasy questions echoed in his mind.

"You will have to ask her yourself." Sebastian replied as he stood again. "But you already know what I believe."

"But you were wrong about the Viscount…" Ciel stated as he clung desperately to the fact that Sebastian had made a mistake before. He really wanted to believe that his perfect demon was wrong again, but he feared that it wasn't so. He had said he would rescue her and he did mean to, but that didn't stop him from thinking about it, especially since he had nothing to do but think. He suspected Sebastian could prepare all of the food by himself with ease and he would only be in the way.

"I do not think I'm wrong this time, Bocchan. I do understand your human feelings about this and I did try to protect you, but there comes a time when you must face the facts." For once the demon was not gloating or grinning at his unease. If anything he seemed unhappy as well.

"Why, why would she do such a thing?" Ciel asked as he tried to understand the senseless deaths. His aunt being a murderer was bad enough, but the extreme way the bodies had been torn up… that made it a hundred times worst.

"Anger and jealousy over what she cannot have?" Sebastian suggested in a soft voice. "Is it really any different than you seeking revenge on your parents' murders?"

"Of course it's different! I'm killing criminals!" Ciel blurted out hotly as he disliked being compared to a murderer. "I'm doing the work for Scotland Yard as they're too incompetent. I'm not saying I'm in the light, far from it but I still have decency. I realize prostitutes are not innocents but raising a child in the squalor they live in, is that any better?"

"I think you're coming to realize that people are not always as they seem. They can hide things from the public and even from family, shocking things."

Ciel nodded. "That's exactly how I feel. I keep thinking it can't be her yet at the same time I realize it must be…"

"Come, Bocchan, let us go see where the food is kept. Perhaps some work in the kitchen will keep your mind off of things." Sebastian held his white gloved hand outward, indicating that Ciel should go first.

"I have no idea where food is on this ship." Ciel stated but started forward at a brisk pace. He left the galley and entered the common area of the pirate ship. Here it was darker and more closed in oddly enough. Thick boards ran overhead, support for the deck above. The far walls were lined with cannons and the cannon ports, the square openings closed for the moment. Ciel's blue eye flickered over the heavy iron weapons, shocked at the large number the pirate possessed. Cannon after cannon met his gaze, the heavy balls piled nearby. The hammocks were the crew slept were folded neatly and put away for the day. A few scruffy pirates mopped the deck, their dark eyes watching him like a hawk as he passed.

"Ye the new cabin boy?" a pirate asked.

"Nay, he's a powder monkey, aint ya boy?" A second pirate replied with a laugh. "Captain Barbossa don't need no cabin boy but we always need powder monkeys!"

The first pirate laughed evilly, the sound sending a chill down Ciel's spine. The young earl had no idea of what a powder monkey was, but it didn't sound good. If he were alone he might be terrified of these pirates but he wasn't; Sebastian was with him. Still, he wasn't a coward. He stopped and stared upward at the laughing pirates, a hard glint in his eye. These scums were beneath him, but due to circumstances he was stuck here with them for the time being. "I don't know what that is."

"It's a young lad who runs down into the hold to get us the powder fer the cannons…" The pirate explained good-naturedly as he stooped to look at Ciel better. A big jagged scar from a previous engagement ran across his face. "Look at him, already dressing like us with a patch and all. You missing an eye?"

"I bet he stole them clothes off some wealthy person and that's how he lost that eye!" The other pirate guessed as he ran a hand over the once fine but now ragged frock coat he wore over a torn shirt. "It's how I gots mine."

"I'm Earl Phantomhive!" Ciel exclaimed with pride. "How dare you suggest I'm a thief!"

But the two pirates only laughed at him and went back to their mopping. It was clear they hadn't believed his claim at all.

His anger for the moment spent, Ciel's shoulders slumped slightly and he stormed forward. He passed various things without really seeing them, tables and such other ordinary things, and soon saw the staircase just ahead. A wonderful breath of fresh air was blowing down the stairs and after the horrid stink of below decks the air was like water to a man dying of thirst. New speed was found and he hurried towards the bright beam of white light that shown down into the gloom of the ship's interior. Just as he reached the stairs and was about to set foot on the first worn wooden step, someone appeared from a deck further down, a very familiar someone.

"Oh Ciel, I thought I'd never see you again!" Madame Red cried as she threw her arms about him, hugging him tightly to her chest. "It was so gallant of you to try and recue us from these dreadful pirates!"

"Ack, I can't breathe!" Ciel squirmed to get free and managed, his eye patch coming loose in the struggle and falling onto the floor. Instantly he closed the contract eye and slapped a hand over it. The last thing he wanted was for his aunt to find out about the contract. He didn't know how he could explain it. He stood there uncertainly for a moment, his heart thumping fast in his chest for some reason. Maybe it had been those pirates or the situation he found himself in or maybe now that he was finally face to face with her. A part of him wanted to blurt the question out and part of him was scared to, too. Did he really want to know the truth?

Sebastian bent and picked the bit of cloth up, securing it over his eye again.

Grell appeared then behind Madame. "There's horrid rats down below!"

"Rats?" Ciel exclaimed in utter shock, forgetting about the murders for a minute. He tore his blue eye off of his aunt and onto the incompetent butler. Was Grell really a grim reaper like Sebastian guessed? He seemed so… so … clumsy and stupid! He had labeled the annoying man a pest and hindrance, but Sebastian rarely was wrong about these things.

"Hordes of the filthy things! They bit me!" Grell exclaimed in a dramatic voice with one hand to his forehead. The Shinigami was still in his butler disguise with the brown hair and plain glasses. "We'll all die of cholera!"

"Yes, it's just disgusting down there!" Madame Red huffed in annoyance. "I cannot possibly work under such conditions! Every surface down there is ruined by their awful waste!"

"I didn't realize it was that bad…" Ciel said as the truth began to sink in. He turned to his butler. "Sebastian, can you do something about the rats? We can't allow everyone to get cholera or any other disease from the creatures."

"At once, My Lord." Sebastian bowed and quickly disappeared down the staircase where Madame Red and Grell had come from.

"What is he going to do about them?" Madame Red asked with a hand on her hip. "Really, Ciel, you act as if he can do anything and everything! No one man is that perfect!"

"Sebastian is." Ciel said with confidence. "Sebastian can do anything."

"Except get us off this ship it seems." She replied. Upon seeing his glum expression, she brightened and smiled. Reaching out, she pulled him against her side and ruffled his hair. "Don't feel bad, Ciel. It's not your fault we're stuck here. These are ruthless pirates, not the usual lowlifes from London's East End that you're used to. They have swords and cannons!"

"I should have done better…" Ciel stated as he felt it was true. "Somehow I should have."

"I'm just thankful that you're safe." Madame Red replied. "I couldn't stand the thought that something might happen to you. You're the only family I have left."

Ciel lifted his chin and gazed into her red eyes. He could see and feel her words were true, that she really cared for him. How could she possibly be the criminal he had been searching for?

"Let's go up into the fresh air!" Madame Red declared as she suddenly turned and hurried up the stairs, her shoes clopping loudly on the wooden treads and her long skirts rustling.

Eagerly Ciel followed her, Grell trailing behind.

The young earl stepped onto the open deck and took in a big lungful of fresh air. The breeze blew by, lifting the hairs off his forehead. It was blazing hot but the fresh air made up for it. He watched as his aunt moved to stand beside the rail, the beautiful turquoise sea behind her. He was about to go towards her when a sense of déjà vu gripped him. The odd feeling as if he had seen this before stopped him dead in his tracks and all he could do was stare at her.

That dress, he had seen it before! And that rail behind her…

But that was impossible! The dress was ancient and from a previous century. His aunt certainly didn't own any clothes like that. She loved to wear red, yes, but had never had a red dress in this cut or style before. Angelina was very stylish and loved the social scene. She would never be caught wearing something like that unless it was possibly to a costume ball. Clothing from the pirate era was just out of style these days.

"That dress! Where did you get it?" Ciel asked as he took two steps closer, the funny feeling growing stronger.

"This?" Madame Red asked as she played with the heavy skirts of the lovely red gown. "It was in a trunk of clothes the Captain gave me. Why?"

"I've seen it before." Ciel stated with confidence.

"Don't be silly! You couldn't have!" Madame Red replied with a wave of her hand. "I didn't lay my eyes on it until last night, so that's not possible. Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

"I'm certain I saw that dress before…that _exact_ dress." He could recall the white triangle on the red dress clearly, the heavy full skirts, the carved railing behind her and the pretty turquoise sea. It was so clear in his mind… but where had he seen it? It didn't make any sense and that frustrated him to no end. He gritted his teeth and his hands clenched into fists as a hot feeling grew in his chest. Why wasn't his memory cooperating? He felt that this, this mystery, might be important!

Ciel realized he had too many other worries on his mind and that may be why the answer didn't come forth like he wanted. Memory was an ethereal thing, like mist in the morning. It could vanish so easily when it desired to.

But no matter his other problems, Ciel vowed to solve the mystery of the red dress.

TBC…


	7. Questions

Darker Heart 7

Before Ciel could say another word, Sebastian came up from the orlop deck with a squirming canvas sack. Loud squeals came from within the wildly twisting bag, the cloth sporting numerous bulges, bulges that kept shifting and moving endlessly. Within moments Ciel realized that the large sack held rats, dozens upon dozens of them.

"What are ye doing there with that there sack?" Barbossa called out as he started to make his way down the stairs from the poop deck. His peg thumped loudly with each step, his blazing blue eyes sharp with suspicion. "Yer supposed to be preparing lunch fer the men. They get three square meals a day."

"I have collected the rats and am going to dispose of them." Sebastian informed the captain. "Even you cannot find fault with that."

"The conditions down there are just dreadful!" Madame Red quickly added as she moved away from the rail and closer to Captain Barbossa. "Everything is sticky and it smells! Don't you realize bad odors cause disease?"

"I know no such thing." Barbossa replied firmly as he stepped off of the staircase and stopped before the smartly dressed butler. "If ye get rid of them rats, what are ye going to eat if the ship runs out of supplies? At least they're fresh."

Madame Red gasped in horror, a hand flying to her mouth. "Surely you're joking!"

"What?" Barbossa gazed at her and then burst out laughing. "They taste similar to rabbit. If ye don't like it, maybe moss covered boards are to yer liking under them conditions but me crew likes meat, preferably fresh."

The ragged deck crew joined in the raucous laughter, many slapping their thighs or tapping their buddies on the back in good fellowship. They thought her shock at the situation was funny indeed and a reason for good mirth.

A cold dread settled in Ciel's stomach. He thought he was a good judge of character and although the captain was laughing he was serious about eating the rats. It had been hours since he had eaten last and although it had just been the night before it seemed like ages ago. He thought longingly of the fine meals Sebastian always prepared for him and he wondered what he was going to eat now. He had no idea what pirates ate but he doubted if it would be anywhere near his standards. Still, it couldn't be any worst than when he had been a prisoner of that cult, could it? They had given him dry bread and water. They had planned to sacrifice him but it hadn't turned out that way. Sebastian was his.

The words seemed to catch Sebastian off guard, a surprised expression appearing on his pale face. He froze, his hand holding the sack held aloft to keep it off of the wet deck where the men had been mopping. Then the bottom of the sack split open and a dozens of fat dark furry bodies fell onto the deck. They darted off instantly, squealing, and running in every direction. It seemed as if the deck was black with their plump bodies.

Madame Red shrieked at the sight, horrified. She hadn't realized there had been so many and now to see them all at once… Instinctively she clutched onto Grell, who was standing near her as a proper butler should. He bared his shark teeth at the rodents, not that the extremely short sighted rodents even noticed.

Ciel's heart skipped a beat as several ran at him and he leaped to avoid them. He hated vermin and the damage they caused. He watched as the pirates swung mops at the rodents, trying to hit them with the wet strings. Others were down on their hands and knees, slapping at them with open palms as if trying to catch them. The cutthroats laughed as they did this, as if it were an entertaining game. One overweight pirate with a greasy face and straggly brown hair caught one and eagerly bit it on its back. The rat twisted about and bit him on his cheek, forcing him to drop it. Bright red blood poured out of the flesh wound but the man only laughed at the minor injury

"Too bad, Styles, it got away on you!" Another pirate laughed as he good naturedly gave the overweight pirate a friendly thump on his shoulder.

"How could you possibly put that filthy thing in your mouth?" Madame Red shrieked at the man. "It could be carrying disease!"

"I've bit loads of them." Styles dumbly told her. By the look of his face it was obvious many rats had bitten him in the past. "Don't see nothing wrong with it. It's a fun game."

"Yeah, we like playing with the rats!" Another pirate joined in. "We gamble about it, too! It's our favorite sport! We calls it rat baiting!"

Madame Red made a disgusted sound. It was clear she was going to be treating lots of rat bites on the Revenge. It never occurred to her there may be _other_ vermin on board as well. The people of 1750 were nowhere near as advanced as those from 1888. It was a huge gap in time, knowledge and advances not yet discovered.

"Stop playing with them rats and get to making lunch!" Barbossa ordered in a firm voice, his eyes hard. He handed the demon butler a key on a long chain. "This is fer the hold where the supplies are kept. Make sure ye lock the door when ya leave or else the crew will be helping themselves and we can't have that now can we?"

"At once, Captain." Sebastian accepted the key and bowed politely to the scruffy pirate lord. A pirate showed where the hold with the food was located and the demon promptly unlocked the door, Ciel trailing behind him. Once the door was open, Sebastian stepped over the wooden lip of the doorway and into the room.

Large sacks, barrels and casks were stuffed into the room haphazardly; the canvas sacks messily piled one atop the other. There was also a staircase leading down further where yet more supplies were kept. The demon stared at the mess for a moment, as it was far from the neat and orderly pantry he kept at Phantomhive.

"What a mess…" Ciel stated as he stared into the dark room. The air was stale from the room being locked most of the time but he hardly noticed. He took a few uncertain steps further in and paused before a small wooden barrel that came up to his waist. He noted that the lid was ajar and so he reached out for it. Carefully wrapping his fingers about the cover, he picked it up and peered within. Some sort of substance was inside but for the life of him he was clueless as to what it was. It was a mottled color of pale ivory mixed with some darker shade of green or blue; in the dim light he was unsure which but the odor that hit him in the nose was strong with mold. "Uggh! This stuff is revolting!"

Sebastian peered into the cask. "Moldy cheese… I see now why the Captain wanted to keep the rats."

Ciel let the lid drop back onto the barrel, a funny feeling in his gut. What if all of the supplies were like that? "I don't want to eat rats…"

"I hardly think it will come to that, Bocchan." Sebastian replied as he smoothly moved towards the heavy sacks. "Cheese can spoil if kept wrong. Nor do we know how old that particular container is. It may have been sitting there for years. We have no way of knowing if these pirates ever toss out spoiled food."

Ciel watched as the demon picked out several sacks, piling them in his thin arms with ease. It never failed to amaze Ciel at how incredibly strong his perfect butler really was. He looked thin but could lift immensely heavy loads with ease as if they weighed as much as a feather. He half suspected that he could stop a speeding train if he wanted to. The thought cheered him slightly.

"There. I have what I need I believe." The demon stated, a huge impossible pile balanced in front of his body that not only included the sacks but a barrel as well. How he could see Ciel did not know as the only thing visible was his legs and his arms. "We shall need to pick up a chicken. You can pluck it."

"Pluck a chicken…" Ciel tested the words, not sure if he liked the idea. But it was better than being a powder monkey, unless he ended up doing that as well. The sailors on the gun deck had seemed to fancy the idea greatly. "I don't know how to do that."

"I assure you, Bocchan, it takes no skill whatsoever." Sebastian promised as he easily stepped out of the supply room and managed to lock the door without any problems. "Now please go get a chicken and bring it to the galley. That should be simple enough for you I believe."

"A chicken…" Ciel repeated as he stood outside the locked supply room watching Sebastian recede into the distance and then vanish into the interior of the ship. He suddenly felt very small all by himself, surrounded by vicious cutthroats in ruined clothes and scarred faces. The dressed sails, stained with linseed oil and ochre, flapped a ghastly reddish-brown overhead that reminded him of dried blood. It suddenly occurred to him he had no idea where chickens were kept or if the ship even had any. And just standing there with a lost expression on his face would make him look venerable. And just as he thought it, two scruffy looking pirates approached him.

"You lost?" The tall skinny one asked as he exposed a mouth of yellow teeth. A black eye patch was over one eye and his hair was full of sweat and pasted to his head. He wore a brown shirt with a gray frockcoat over it, the coat hanging open and the white lining torn and loose.

The other balding but short pirate laughed. "He sure looks lost without that swanky peacock around! Look at them sparkly rings he has!"

Pintel and Ragetti gazed with admiration at Ciel's cursed blue diamond ring not realizing it was part of the famous Hope Diamond.

"I'm not scared of you." Ciel stated boldly as he straightened to his full height and stood there with an air of authority. His hand went to his hip and he glared at them with his cold blue eye. "Go get me a chicken!"

"A chicken? Now wait a bloody minute. Yer not the Captain!" Pintel replied with a sour expression on his greasy face. "I don't have to take orders from you…"

"But he sure looks kind of cute…" Ragetti added more softly.

"Cute?" Pintel scowled and slapped Ragetti on the arm roughly. "Cute isn't going to get us any treasure!"

"But we could use him as bait maybe…somehow…" Ragetti added as he thought the matter over. "Other ships would stop for a cute child…"

"I only need a chicken…" Ciel informed them.

"We gots those dresses…" Ragetti reminded his uncle.

Pintel laughed with glee and rubbed his dirty hands together. "Yeah, a cute _girl_, they'd stop for that all right and then BOOM we blast them with our cannons!"

"What? No!" Ciel cried in horror when he heard the hated word girl. "I'm not a girl and I refuse to dress as one again!"

"See, Pint, he has _experience_ with dresses!"

"Ack!" Ciel tried to run away but the pirates grabbed him by his thin arms and hoisted him up into the air, carrying him with ease. "Put me down!"

The two pirates chuckled evilly over their latest bird-brained scheme, forgetting that it all was moot as that Barbossa was in charge anyway. The young earl, however, refused to cooperate and he squirmed, kicking out at the two. With a few lucky blows with his wooden-heeled shoes, they dropped him to the deck and he scrambled off in a wild rush with heart beating and his breath coming in fast gulps of air. Ciel was just lucky that the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ was rat infested and thus it had no cats on board. Most sea-going ships kept cats on board to keep the rat population in check but Blackbeard had never bothered with that. He favored spells, that and the pirates had their nasty game of rat-baiting. But thanks to the cat-free ship, Ciel could breathe freely and not lay in a miserable heap gasping for air due to his cat-induced asthma.

And then the floor dropped out from under him!

A loud blood curdling shriek filled the air as Ciel fell into the open hold, the heavy metal grate moved off of the deep opening. Being on a ship was a dangerous place indeed and many a sailor lost limbs, eyes, fingers and even their lives from carelessness and accidents. If he hadn't been in such a rush, he could have avoided the fall but he hadn't been paying attention to where he had been going. For what seemed like forever he fell through the darkness and he feared any moment he would hit the bottom and break his legs. Suffering from asthma as he did, Ciel wasn't the physical sort and thus his legs were rather puny and thin. His heart up in his throat due to red hot fear, he struck something soft then and sunk into it. Instantly a big cloud of dust burst up around him and he started coughing. Flailing his arms about, he crawled out of the pile of hay and found himself face to face with a monstrous beast with a long face and big nostrils. He almost shrieked again and then he realized it was just a cow.

"What an idiot I am, almost scared to death by a mere cow." Ciel dusted his clothes off the best he could and willed his heart to slow down from its manic pace. He could feel it beating rapidly within his chest. But he had found the livestock on his own and now he could set out to find a chicken. He walked past cows, goats, sheep and finally came upon the feathered fiends he desired. They were walking around and pecking at bits of stuff on the floor, chicken feed he guessed. He cautiously walked up to a nice fat one and tried to grab it only to have it escape. "Come back here!"

Ciel then spent a good twenty minutes in the hot hold racing around and chasing chickens until he finally caught one. By the time he had it, his face shone with sweat and his once fluffy clean hair was somewhat stringy as well. He could feel the awful dirt on his face clogging his pores. The cows started bellowing then, a loud ear-splitting racket that he detested right away. If the young earl loved one thing, it was peace and quiet. Unfortunately those things did not exist on a pirate ship or on any frigate.

He made his way back to the opening just in time to see sailors coming down with water for the cows. He quickly climbed back up, the stiff sea breeze feeling very refreshing after the hot stillness of the hold. But after a few moments in the breeze he came to realize how sweat-soaked he really was, his shirt clammy against his back, chest and at the arm pits. "I need a bath…"

Chicken clutched against his chest, he quickly made his way to the galley. He passed various pirates on the gun deck without any incidents, recognizing only the pirate that had the rat-bitten face. That incident might haunt him as he had never thought to see anyone actually put a wild rodent in their mouth on purpose. The other two that had accosted him were not in sight.

"There you are. I had been wondering where you had gone…" Sebastian said as he stirred something inside a gigantic bowl.

"These bloody things are near impossible to catch!" Ciel huffed in annoyance as he continued to hold the chicken, thankful that it hadn't tried to peck him. His stomach rumbled loudly then and he suddenly realized how hungry he was. "What are you making?"

"I have mixed wheat flour, pea flour and bone powder together with some water to make traditional British Ship's Biscuits. They are a sort of cracker." Sebastian took the chicken from Ciel and in a swift move broke its neck. Handing the now dead bird back to the earl, he went back to his dough. "Now please pluck the bird."

Ciel looked at the deceased fowl in his hands, thinking it must have billions of feathers. "I'm beginning to hate this ship…"

000

"I can't believe he just let those rodents go!" Madame Red fumed to Grell from where she stood on the main deck. "It's unbelievable! I guess we'll have to clean the medical area ourselves and try to keep them out somehow. Be a good dear and go get us some soap."

"Yes, Madame." Grell replied but had no idea where he was going to get soap from. From the look of things, the pirates didn't use soap or if they did they used it sparingly. From the lack of suds, he suspected it was just plain sea water the deck crew was sloshing around on the floor. It was to keep the boards wet or he had heard that once long ago. If they weren't washed every day the wood would shrink and gaps would appear between them and the daily swabbing prevented that. Grell had become a Shinigami about a hundred years ago and so he did recall a bit about this time period the pirates were from. Now as if they had actually gone back in time as Barbossa had insisted, he didn't know. But if they had…

Grell frowned at the thought. Madame Red didn't know what life was like a hundred years ago. To her soap was easily available and sold in neat little cakes wrapped in paper. It was even scented with lilac or rose or other lovely floral smells. Modern people appreciated being clean and knew it was a good thing to do for one's health, but during the Age of Piracy… Soap was hard to make and there was many difficult steps to take. That much he recalled. One needed tons of wood to burn just to get the ashes. Then you took a container with a narrow slit on the bottom. Put some hay in it, then small rocks, a large rock and put your ashes on top of that. Pour water in and let the water drip through the various layers to come out the bottom where it fell into a second container. You ended up with brown water that was lye. Then you had to render animal fat by boiling it in water for hours, a stinky process indeed if the fat was not very fresh. You let this cool then and the clean fat floated on the top. Later you mixed the lye with the rendered fat, cooking it and you ended up with a soft jelly that was your soap. If you wanted a harder soap you could add salt but that made it incredibly expensive so most people just used the soft jelly-like soap. He sighed, fearing he might end up trying to _make_ soap. Although he recalled how it was done, he had never tried it himself. He had had a man's profession and thus left the soap-making to the women, but he knew sometimes the process went bad and had to be done all over again.

He climbed up the stairs to the poop deck and spotted Barbossa resting behind the table he had set up there. Slowly he approached him. "Captain, Madame would like to know if you have any soap…"

_Please say that you do!_

"Why would I want that stuff for?" Barbossa replied with a frown. "We steal valuables, not useless gobs of soft goo."

The pirate then started laughing. "Go tell that new cook he better bring me my green apples soon!"

Grell nodded that he would and left the poop deck. Going down the stairs, he soon met up with Madame. "He doesn't have any soap on board, just as I feared."

"No soap?" She exclaimed as her red eyes grew wide. "Why in the world not? Soap is easily available! Why look how often these sailors mop the floor!"

"They're just using ordinary sea water on the decks." Grell said with a weary sigh. "I fear we'll have to try and make soap, unless…"

"Unless what?" She insisted as she leaned closer to him eager to hear whatever it might be.

"Unless Sebastian can use his powers to make soap." The words were a soft whisper as the Shinigami watched the crew around them for eavesdroppers. He didn't think the crew would take too kindly to having a demon amongst them. "You recall what I said about him…"

Madame Red nodded. "But won't we have to admit that we know…? But really, what was he _thinking_ signing a contract with one of those? Does he care so little for his own life? I wanted him to grow up and be happy, to get away from all of this gloom and doom! But he's always out there in the lonely countryside with the burnt remains of the original house right there. I know that can't be good for him."

Not a word was said of how they had seen Sebastian walk past them earlier carrying an impossibly heavy load with ease and vanish into the interior of the ship. Just the sight alone had made Madame Red's jaw drop in utter amazement. Then Grell's words of the night before floated through her mind as well as the blazing red eyes she had seen and she knew it was true. _Sebastian was a demon_.

"Well, I'm going to go see him!" She stated firmly as she lifted the long skirts of her dress and marched towards the open door to the ship's interior. She hurried down the stairs and onto the gun deck. The scruffy pirates must have sensed she was in a foul mood and swiftly moved out of her way and so she had a clear path all of the way to the galley. Opening the door, she rushed within with Grell hot on her heels.

And there was her darling nephew trying to pluck a chicken with tiny white feathers in his hair and all around him. He looked incredibly miserable as he tore them out by the handfuls, his jaw tightened in his efforts. They stuck to his damp hand and he shook it furiously to little affect.

"Ciel, dear, what on earth are you trying to do?" She asked although she could see just fine what he was doing.

"Pluck this chicken. If I help Sebastian with the food, maybe I can avoid being a powder monkey." He replied honestly.

"We need soap." Madame Red stated as she waited with bated breath to see what would happen. Now if it happened as she suspected it would, then that would be more proof to the fact that Sebastian was a demon. But how could that be? He looked so handsome! "Can you believe this entire ship doesn't have any or so they say? The medical area I'm to work in is sticky with rodent _droppings_, droppings!"

"Sebastian, do you think you can find some soap?" Ciel asked as he turned his head to gaze up at his butler. "And I could use some, too. I'm all sweaty from being down in that hold with the livestock…"

"Of course, My Lord, as what kind of butler would I be if I couldn't find soap for you?" Sebastian smiled politely and then left the kitchen only to return a few minutes later with lovely bars of soap. Unknown to the others, he had used his powers to change the moldy useless cheese into fine bars of scented soap. He handed one to Grell, Madame Red and then Ciel.

Madame Red stared down at the bar of soap in her hand. It was pale pink and smelled faintly from roses. "But there wasn't any soap on this entire ship! The Captain said so!"

"The Captain clearly is mistaken." Sebastian replied smoothly as he poured his cracker mixture into pans and then set it to cook. Since they were crackers they would get done swiftly. He had to make enough for the entire crew but for him that would pose no problem at all. He then set about slicing the cheddar he had discovered into serving size pieces.

She opened her mouth to say something but hesitated, unsure if she should.

Ciel however noticed. "You look like you want to say something. What is it?"

"During that storm…" Madame Red started and then pointed a trembling finger at Sebastian. "He had red eyes with slit black pupils! I saw them! Ciel, how could you do that, how could you sign a contract with a … a _demon_!"

"I…" Ciel gasped upon hearing the words. It was the last thing he had ever expected. No one had ever guessed Sebastian's true identity before, never! People were amazed by him, yes. They admired Sebastian and how perfect he was and the things he could do, but no one ever thought he was anything but human. Why would they? His blue eye grew to the size of a tea cup and he floundered for words, any words but his mind was in shock. His gaze flickered to Sebastian for guidance.

"Remember what I have told you, Bocchan." The demon stated without any cares or worries about being discovered.

And then Ciel remembered the demon's words, his suspicions that Grell was a grim reaper. The young earl's gaze flickered back to his aunt and her clumsy butler. Somehow he knew the moment had come. He had dreaded it before but now it was here. Could he really say it, utter those words?

"Well, say something!" Madame Red insisted as she waited impatiently.

"Fine, I'll say something." Ciel said with a calm voice. "Are you Jack the Ripper?"

TBC…

Author's Note: Some of the material in this chapter is based on _Horatio Hornblower_, including the game with the men biting the rats. The game was in the A&E movie "_Duty_", which is the first of eight _Hornblower_ movies. Rats were very common on seagoing ships. Watching _Hornblower_ helps me write these stories as it gives me a better understanding of how the ships work, their appearance, etc.

And please be aware that lye is a dangerous substance. It can burn you and if it gets in your eyes, blind you. So please don't try to make it unless you know what you're doing.


	8. Fire and Ice

Darker Heart 8

"Are you Jack the Ripper?"

The words echoed through Madame Red's mind and while she had half expected Ciel to suspect her, she was still surprised at the accusation. But like her butler Grell, she was a good actress. She believed that women should act carefree around men and she tried to do that to the best of her ability, hiding the real her deep inside. The truth was, no one but Grell knew the real her, not even her darling nephew. He would be shocked at the horrid things she had done in the name of revenge, the blood on her hands but she wanted to desperately spare him from all of that and so she waved a hand at him carelessly, dismissing the charges. "Don't be silly! What would I gain by killing those women? Just because I'm a surgeon with the required skills does not mean I'm guilty. Why Ciel, how could you even think _I_ did it, your very own aunt?"

Ciel, however, wasn't taken in by her words of protest. He remained calm and confident. Before he had been kidnapped by these pirates he had done the research. "All of those women had been operated on by you. They all had the very same procedure; an abortion is that not correct?"

"I see hundreds of patients at the London Hospital. Surely you cannot expect me to remember all of their names? That would be impossible. The poor come in droves, as they get sick quicker and more often than their richer counterparts due to their bad diets and living conditions." While she remained calm on the outside, inside she was anything but. She was startled that Ciel had put it all together so quickly but she still had an ace in the hole. "Besides, you know I was at Lord Druitt's party with you that day. I couldn't have possibly killed her!"

"Yes, that's what I thought too at first…" Ciel allowed a confident grin to spread across his face. "And then I learned that your butler is not human, is he? He's just as fast as Sebastian and you know he can do things in the blink of an eye. He can be across London to the East End and back before any humans even noticed he was gone from the party. Admit it, Madame; you have the ability to be the murderer thanks to your inhuman accomplice."

Madame Red considered her options carefully. She could either confess the truth now or continue to act innocent. But it seemed her nosy nephew had found out a lot more than she had ever thought possible, mainly due to that demon butler. A demon, really, who would have thought that? "And what if I am guilty, Ciel? What are you going to _do_ about it?"

"At the moment, nothing…" Ciel didn't want to show any weakness in front of Sebastian but the situation had changed from what it was before; pirates had gotten involved. "The fact that we're out in the middle of the ocean somewhere changes things. But why don't we be open with each other? Explain to me what has driven you to do such a thing?"

"You don't know?" She asked, a bit surprised. He had put everything else together so she thought her motive would be obvious – but then he was a child. How could he understand her desire to have children? While he may be engaged to his cousin, Elizabeth Midford, to him she was still an annoying girl. Yes, he was still clearly in the girl-hating phrase that all boys went through but when he grew older… Her thoughts stopped then as they hit a brick wall. Ciel would grow older, wouldn't he? But with that demon he may not have the chance! Here she had been depending on Sebastian to protect her darling nephew and he was just some leech preying on an innocent boy! Red hot anger bloomed in her chest, her eyes flashing as she glared at the tall and orderly butler. "How dare you prey on my dear nephew! He isn't some snack for you!"

Madame Red hurried to Ciel's side, gripping him securely about his arms and started to physically haul him away from the demon.

"Ack!" Ciel cried as she held onto him too tightly, squeezing him. "I made the contract of my own free will! Hauling me away from Sebastian won't do any good!"

"But you're just a child!" Madame Red protested as she pushed him between Grell and herself. She smiled down at him kindly and affectionately ruffled his hair. "I know you hate the term, but it's true. How old were you when you made that contract, ten or eleven? Surely he took advantage of you when you were desperate and not thinking straight!"

"I'm Earl Phantomhive!" Ciel declared loudly, authority in his voice. "I may be young in years but I know what I'm doing, what I signed away. It's done and I very well intend for Sebastian to eat my soul once he completes the contract. Until then he's my servant and butler, my _perfect_ butler."

"But why…" Madame Red cried unhappily at him, confusion in her blood-red eyes. "Why would you throw your life away so carelessly? You have so much to live for!"

"Why did you murder those women?" Ciel stared at her, hands on his hips. His posture was perfectly straight and he looked every inch the regal Lord that he was. "I'll tell you why I signed the contract if you tell me why you committed those horrid crimes."

Madame Red gazed at him. Uncertain if she really wanted to bare her problems to him. He already had so much tragedy in his life; that horrid house fire and his parents murdered…could she really burden him with her own problems? And no matter what he said, he was still a child.

"Tell me. I won't understand until you do." Ciel urged her when he saw her hesitation. "Then I'd be left to guessing…"

"Are you going to tell him?" Grell asked as he shifted his green eyes from Ciel to his mistress. He had remained quite through most of it, listening. Secretly it pleased him that his little secret was out as then he could reveal his true form to the handsome demon. Not that he really knew anything about demons, no. Sebastian was the very first demon he had ever met.

"I might as well. Besides, I want to know why he threw his life away so carelessly!" At the moment Ciel's careless blunder bothered her more than her own barren state. She reached out quickly and snatched the black eye patch off of his face, whipping it away.

"Hey!" Ciel cried in surprise. Then he sighed and slowly opened his hidden eye to reveal the contract mark. There really was no point in hiding it now that she knew. "Are you satisfied now?"

Madame Red stared at the strange etching on his eye, a star inside of a circle with hatch marks on the edge of the circle. It was purple in color and the last thing she had been expecting. Instinctively she realized it was some mark of ownership the demon had placed on him. "I had always presumed you lost that eye…"

"No, I didn't lose it, not exactly." The young earl admitted. "I can't really see out of it though, not that it matters as Sebastian takes excellent care of me. Don't blame him for the choices that I made. If Sebastian hadn't showed up when he did, I would have been murdered by that insane cult."

"What cult? You never told me any of this!" Shock rolled through her at the words. Her mind whirled in confusion, as she hadn't expected he had been keeping that sort of thing from her. "Are you saying you were kidnapped that night of the fire?"

"Of course I was kidnapped. Do you think I ran off on my own?" Ciel shook his head, amazed she hadn't known. But he knew that wasn't her fault but his. He had never told her or anyone where he had been or what had happened to him. He had instead returned with no warning, a butler in black at his side.

"You could have been in shock! Seeing your home burning, the flames terrifying you and not to mention the smoke! I had feared you had wondered off in a daze…" Madame Red recalled her own accident all too well. It had happened so suddenly she hadn't had much time to be terrified. Things had changed in a few seconds, her old life gone forever and the future rewritten all because of a runaway carriage. Her husband had been killed instantly and through some miracle she had survived. Why, she didn't know. But her unborn baby was gone and with it her womb. Another doctor at the London Hospital had been forced to surgically remove it through a thin six inch slit on her stomach. The risky procedure had a seventy percent death rate but for some unknown reason she had survived that as well. Much later she had woken up in the hospital wrapped in bandages and had been fed pain killers. Time passed and she healed physically, but mentally and emotionally…she still longed for a child, a child she could never have now. And each time she saw a woman with a child the pain burst her heart anew. That could have been her but it wasn't and it would never be. Her mind snapped back to the present, her sad eyes falling on her darling nephew. "I searched for you, we all did…"

"Someone set the manor ablaze on purpose and I intend to catch them." Ciel explained to her. "They murdered my parents and then set the fire to cover their tracks. I ran out of my room and…"

His words died off, the memory of the crackling flames fresh in his mind. He could almost smell the acrid stink and feel the heat scorching his skin. The fire was everywhere, racing up the walls and along the ceiling, burning wreckage falling here and there. He had been wide-eyed with terror; she was right about that but…but… Ciel shook his head, a hand going his forehead. There was something there, some memory but he couldn't recall what it was. He was sure it revisited him at night, in nightmares, but when he awoke he could never recall what it had been. Still, he felt it had been important. "I was kidnapped then and they kept me in a giant birdcage. They wore strange robes and were doing some bizarre ritual. I think they were going to kill me, make me a sacrifice. Instead of panicking though I kept my wits about me. I only had once chance. I would curse them as they had cursed me and I called Sebastian then. He appeared and murdered the cult members and he became my loyal butler."

Madame Red knelt and pulled Ciel to herself, wrapping her arms about him. "You poor boy, to think you've suffered so much at a young age!"

"I intend to lure the murderers out and make them pay for what they've done, not only for myself and my parents, but because they deserve it. As the Queen's Watchdog, I cannot allow criminals to roam free. For all I know they may be doing the same to others." Ciel allowed his Aunt to hug him. He appreciated the gesture of warmth but it felt a bit strange knowing she was Jack the Ripper. "And what of you, what's your excuse?"

She stood then, releasing Ciel. He was so calm about the whole thing it was uncanny. Here he was just a child and yet he acted more mature than she did. He was often moody or depressed – if one counted not smiling as depressed – but he didn't seem to possess the fiery temper she did. He would be amazed at how crazed she could be at times, her vision turning red and an intense heat burning in her too-tight chest. At those times she felt like a giant hand was squeezing her ribcage and she flew into a rage, her face ugly and twisted. And then the scalpel did its job, striking at the murderous woman that had killed an innocent baby. How could he ever understand that when he was like ice and she fire? Still, he had told his tale so she would tell hers.

"They had babies and they murdered them!" She cried with righteous fury, her red eyes flashing. "They had been given the most wondrous gift and they just threw it away! I would do anything to have a baby of my own…anything…"

Ciel's eyes widened in sudden understanding as he recalled the carriage accident she had been in. He had been very young then and had not fully understood what it had meant. He had only known she had been badly hurt and had almost died. His uncle had died. Even now he only had a dim understanding of what those womanly parts were all about. Undertaker had talked about it but it was all kind of fuzzy. "I…I never knew…"

"Those kinds of women come back over and over…" Madame Red said with disgust. "They never learn and they don't care for living decent lives. Instead they think it's their profession but all they wind up with is disease and fatherless babies they don't want."

"Getting abortion after abortion will kill them you know…" Grell added from where he stood next to Ciel. "Trust me, I know. I've seen them bleed out that way."

Ciel turned so he could regard the brown-haired butler. Grell still looked rather innocent appearance wise but Ciel knew that he was anything but that. He wasn't even human according to Sebastian. "And what's your part in this?"

"Me? Why, I was just having a bit of fun is all…" Grell bent from the waist so he could gaze into Ciel's purple and blue eyes. His lips spread apart to reveal pointed shark teeth. He had hoped to get some kind of reaction out of the young earl at the unexpected sight, but Ciel disappointed him. The boy was much too stoic for his tastes. "I do love red you know. Red is perfect for hair, for clothes, for lipstick and fingernail polish and it looks great as smeared blood. I made them pretty by covering them in lovely red blood."

"So you're the one that mangled the prostitutes." Ciel stated from where he stood between Grell and Madame Red. He shifted his blue eye to see Sebastian was apparently paying them no heed. Instead his perfect butler was busy preparing the lunch at an incredible speed and he even had remembered Captain Barbossa's green apples. The good eye slid back onto its target; the demure but deranged butler. He was very aware he was in fact standing between the two halves of Jack the Ripper yet he felt confident nothing would happen.

"Why have a death scythe if I can't have any fun with it?" Grell pouted, his frown very pronounced and exaggerated. "I mean really, I was just doing my job!"

"Your job is not to murder innocent women!" Ciel declared in a raised voice.

"Ah, but it is! I am a glorious reaper of death, a death god! Besides, those women were anything but innocent!" He exclaimed as he pulled the large red fabric bow from his hair. "Now be a good little boy and I'll show you a secret!"

Ciel watched as the red fabric was stuffed into the pocket of his black jacket and a red comb was pulled out. Grell pulled it through his hair and to Ciel's surprise his hair changed from mousey dull brown to a vibrant red full of life. It seemed to surround him like a living thing, a long strand hanging between his two eyes. He then changed his glasses, replacing the plain ones for red framed ones with skulls on the chain. And his eyes, they had green rings in them!

"This is the real me!" Grell happily exclaimed as he wiggled with excitement. "Don't I look beautiful? Like my lovely Madame Red, I desire to be a mother some day as well!"

"But…" Ciel stuttered with surprise. "You're a man!"

"I am not! I am a lady!" Grell growled, annoyed. "I will forgive you this time, as I have been pretending to be a man and a butler…"

"But I was sure…" Ciel felt confused now and he turned to Sebastian.

"I assure you, Bocchan, Grell is indeed male." The demon replied without lifting his scarlet eyes from his work. "He is apparently a bit confused."

The young earl nodded. Anyone who could mangle another human that way must be. "The two of you will stop this murderous behavior. Is that understood?"

Grell laughed, pointed teeth visible in the light from glass lanterns. "You can't do me anything anyway. I'm immortal."

Ciel stared him in the eyes boldly. "You may be immortal, but clearly you're trapped on this ship just like we are."

The Shinigami sighed, knowing it was true. "If only I shall find my one true love during this sea voyage I shall not mind being a prisoner!"

The demon finished what he was doing then. "Come, Bocchan, it's time for us to serve lunch to the crew."

To be continued…


	9. Love Is

Darker Heart 9

Ciel glanced down at the unappetizing lunch on his plate. Even the plate itself was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Instead of the fine decorated china he was used to, it was a square hunk of wood that had little rims around the outer edge to hold the food onto the plate. He grimaced and considered throwing said sorry excuse of a meal at his butler but realized it was useless. If he did that, he might starve. His stomach rumbled loudly then and he realized he would have to eat the strange stuff, whatever it was. With great trepidation, he picked up the square shaped ship's biscuit that was on his plate next to the serving of thick vegetable soup. It looked strange and unlike any of the bread or crackers he had ate before. It was made of wheat flour; pea flour and bone powder to provide nutrition but tasted rather flat. Luckily for Ciel, Sebastian had baked them fresh in the coal-powered stove or else he would have broken his teeth trying to bite the ancient ones in the ship's storeroom. "What is this stuff?"

"It is what sailors eat, My Lord." Sebastian explained as he placed a cup of lime juice in front of the young boy. "I did make a savory soup for you though. Be thankful we have been assigned to the kitchen and thus we have certain special privileges."

"I suppose you are right…" He sat at the table in the galley, his food in front of him. His arm muscles ached from helping Sebastian hand out the food to around two hundred pirates. Using a gigantic wooden ladle, he had spooned out serving after serving of the thick chicken vegetable soup onto the wooden plates, the demon quickly adding the cracker and lime juice. Each pirate also received a small serving of rum with their meal; just enough for a few swallows. Pirates loved the rum but the captain couldn't have drunk crew members on duty so they drank the majority of it in the evening. The lime juice was served daily to prevent scurvy. He nibbled at the cracker, frowning at the blandness but at least it was something to fill the empty pit of his stomach.

"We need to get off this ship somehow…" Ciel stated as he tried the soup and found it more to his liking. It was thick, yes, but it tasted good. Sebastian had chopped the chicken into tiny pieces and then had added chopped vegetables he had found in the storeroom along with rice. A bit of salt and spices had fixed it up nicely. When he combined the fresh cracker with the soup it wasn't too bad at all. "But there is water everywhere…"

"I am afraid, Bocchan, I never learned to navigate; not out at sea. And you wouldn't want to take to sea in a longboat. Doing so could prove deadly. I have also heard stories that many of these islands are filled with cannibals."

"Cannibals shouldn't be a problem for you…" The young earl replied as he filed the information away. "If you can handle thugs with pistols I don't see why some primitive tribe would be a problem…"

"I am just pointing out that the Caribbean is not England. There are also many tropical diseases here, everything from malaria to yellow fever. That I am ill equip to deal with and I doubt if your aunt has any experience with them either." Sebastian stood near his side as a proper butler should. "I could make some gingerbread for supper. Would you like that, My Lord?"

"Yes, I would." Ciel's mood brightened a bit at the idea of the tasty snack. "I guess the only good thing about being stuck here is that Madame Red and Grell can't murder any more prostitutes…"

The Queen had ordered him to stop the murders and since they were all trapped on the _Queen Anne's Revenge_ the murders indeed had stopped.

"That is indeed a good thing." Sebastian agreed.

000

Madame Red and Grell had just finished having lunch with Captain Barbossa. Unlike Ciel, they had been given better food as suited the doctor's high rank on the ship. It was tradition that the captain always ate better than the crew, but Barbossa was rather easy-going on such things. Before when he and the pirates had been under the curse of the Aztec Gold, he even had giant multi-layer cakes baked even though no one could actually enjoy them. The food had tasted like ash in their mouth and no matter how much they had consumed, it had not filled the empty aching pit in their stomach.

"Well, we had best clean up the sick area before a patient shows up." Madame Red said after they had returned to the orlop deck. She nervously peered around the room half expecting a horrid rat to jump out at her but to her relief not one was in sight. Perhaps getting grabbed by the demon and rudely stuffed into a cloth sack had terrified them and they were all hiding in some more isolated area of the ship. "I'll check the supplies we have and you do the cleaning…"

"Yes, Madame." Grell politely replied as he quickly fetched a bucket of water, a rag and pulled the bar of soap from his jacket pocket. He set to work cleaning the table in the room, scrubbing it. It was dull work though and soon his mind started to wander. Who did he really love and how did one know who was right for him? Did he really love Sebastian just because of his appearance? It was true he knew nothing of the demon and William kept stressing how bad they were. Should he listen to William's advice and not get too involved even though the man was so handsome? Should he pursue Madame Red even though he had no real experience with women? She was very much like him really; the two so much alike. He knew he loved her as why else would he stoop to being a mere butler, but he had never kissed a girl in his entire life and just the idea was strange. Still, was that the course he should take?

"How do people ever figure these things out?" He whined as he sloshed the wet rag around in the bucket of water unhappily, large amounts of water splashing onto the floor.

"Did you say something Grell?" Madame Red asked as she turned from the nearby cupboard to look at him. She was thankful that the interior was clean as well as the supplies within. She had been carefully pulling things out and checking to see what she had. Then she would arrange it to her liking. To her surprise she had even found a microscope; something she hadn't expected to find at all.

"How do you know when you love someone?" He asked as he paused in his work to await an answer. He hadn't bothered changing back to his dull butler form yet and so his long red locks flowed down his back.

Her blood red eyes regarded him, recalling what he had said earlier about wanting to be a mother. She had known that for a long time now and she feared his case was even more unlikely than hers. A man just didn't have the proper parts at all; that and his public bone was shaped all wrong. Even on a skeleton one could tell a male from a female just from the pubic bone. A woman's was wider and had a larger opening in the center for the baby to pass through during birth. Of course, she didn't have the heart to tell him that as it would make him feel even worst. "Well, you tend to think about the person all of the time and you grow excited at the idea of seeing them…"

She recalled how Vincent Phantomhive had set her heart aflutter all of those years ago and some part of her still loved him. Of course he had married her sister and not her. The news had broken her heart but she had been happy for her sister just the same. In many ways Vincent had looked similar to Sebastian; as both had long faces and soft black hair. Vincent had possessed more hair on his forehead and it wasn't as long as Sebastian's locks either.

"Did you love your husband?" He asked, curious as to what she would say.

"The Baron? No, not really. He treated me kindly but I was never in love with him. It may seem strange but I never really knew him that well, as he was rather reserved." Madame Red thought of her deceased husband. While he may have only been dead for a few years, it seemed like ages to her. She had truly cared for him and had been devastated upon his loss, but truthfully she had grown used to the freedom she now possessed in his absence. As a widow she was free to socialize and gossip all she wanted. Attending parties kept her busy as well.

"Ahhh, but surely one should marry for love!" Grell exclaimed with a dramatic flourish, lifting one pale hand high into the air.

"I would have preferred that, but the one I loved chose my sister. A woman is expected to marry by a certain age and so I chose the best prospect I had. A baron is not as high in rank as an earl, of course, but he was still nobility." Truthfully, her husband had supported her very well and she had no complaints in those regards. "I do wish that carriage accident had never happened!"

"But then we would have never met. Surely it is fate that brought us together, we who are so much alike!" Grell struck another one of his dramatic poses, his arm thrown over his forehead.

Madame Red smiled at his antics. "You can always cheer me up, Grell. I truly do appreciate that. It's a pity my nephew doesn't appreciate you the way I do."

No matter how clumsy and inefficient of a butler he was, his Madame always forgave him. "Well, he only just met the real me!"

Grell went back to cleaning, thinking about what she had said. He knew he wouldn't want to be stuck in a loveless marriage. No, he wanted passion and romance and exciting things. He thought her quite brave to marry a man she hardly knew plus one she hadn't even loved. Before he could contemplate it any further, a loud rumpus was heard in the hall just outside sickbay, the noise coming closer. Grell paused, the wet soapy rag frozen in his hand.

Two pirates raced into the room then, a panicked look on their dirty faces. They supported a thin blonde child of about twelve between them, gripping him under his knees and arms. His face was twisted in pain, beads of sweat marring his brow.

"Quick, Doctor, do something!" The pirate named Salaman cried in a thick accent. He was of Indian decent and had brown skin and a dark cloth turban on his head. Wavy black hair fell to his shoulders and a beard with mustache was on his face. Except for his somewhat white shirt, he was dressed in brown trousers and jacket, his jacket hanging open. A sword belt crossed his chest at an angle.

The other pirate was Scrum, whom they had met previously. The slightly plump pirate wore a white shirt with a black waistcoat over it, his jacket not on at the moment. His blue eyes were filled with fear and concern, his words tumbling out rapidly. "It just darted out and bit him!"

"A rat?" Madame Red asked as she hurriedly directed them to put the young boy down onto the still wet examination table. At least it had been cleaned in time for use.

"It's not a bite, it stung him!" Salaman corrected as he curled his finger into a letter "C" shape and mimicked the stinging action of some creature. "It was a scorpion!"

"A scorpion?" Madame Red gasped; shocked by the fact there were scorpions on board the ship. She had heard there were colonies of the creatures in Portsmouth thanks to the Navy ships docking there, but she herself had never run into one in London. Still, she had been taught how to treat the stings and she hoped she had the materials on hand. Truthfully, a poisonous sting from a scorpion was the last thing she had been expecting. "Where was he stung?"

Salaman pointed to the boy's thin leg where a red round welt could be seen just above his ankle. While a bit puffy, it was not swollen very much.

The cabin boy, Oliver, moaned in pain. His fine blonde hair clung to his wet forehead in tendrils and his blue eyes were a bit glazed. His face paled and he weakly lifted a hand to his upper chest just below his throat. "It burns! I … I feel sick…"

"Grell, help me hold him on the table." Madame Red hurried to her supplies and found the container she wanted: a round tin of baking soda. Quickly she mixed it with some water from a metal bowl that sat upon the table, making a thick paste. Then she spread the white paste onto the injury. "That should draw the poison out. You will feel nauseous for awhile but that should pass soon…"

She did not mention that sometimes people died from the stings. It depended on what type of scorpion it had been, as some were highly poisonous to humans and others were not. She really didn't know much about the different species; just that they existed.

Oliver was transferred to one of the beds in the room, his leg propped up on a pillow they found.

"Will he be OK, Doc?" Salaman asked; his brown eyes still wide with fear.

"It's too early to tell." She replied honestly. She didn't think most scorpions was that dangerous but she wasn't certain. She was a surgeon and did operations more frequently than anything else. "But I will keep a close eye on him."

"Hey…" Scrum said as he pointed a finger at Grell. He realized the man wasn't human as Captain Barbossa had told him and had provided those special darts to jab him with, but the sudden change in hair color surprised him. "Didn't you have brown hair before?"

"But this is the real me!" The redheaded Shinigami exclaimed proudly with the flash of brilliantly white shark teeth.

Scrum leaned close to Salaman and whispered into the taller pirate's ear. "He's not human…"

"He's got teeth like a mermaid!" Salaman cried fearfully as his eyes widened at the news, his mouth dropping open.

"Nah, my Tamara didn't have teeth anything like that…" Scrum sighed dreamily as he thought of the lovely mermaid he had met at White Cap Bay. "She had two little pointed ones on the top, like a vampire. His are more like a shark…"

"Stop thinking about that blasted mermaid! She almost ate you!" Salaman reminded the other pirate. "And how do you know what her name was?"

"I gave her one, OK? She needs a name! I almost kissed her too!" Scrum's blue eyes darkened as the other was ruining his memories and fantasies about the girl he had almost had. "She was beautiful, really beautiful and what a voice! Go get your own mermaid!"

"I don't want one!" Salaman cried as he stormed out of sickbay.

Scrum drew his attention back to the doctor to find her gawking at him. "Can you make mermaids walk?"

"Well, ummm…" Madame Red stalled as her mind went blank at the crazy question. She then placed both hands on her hips and glared at him. "That isn't a real medical question!"

"It is too!" Scrum insisted hotly. "My Tamara is real and she can get legs on land! She just don't know how to use them!"

"It sounds like she needs physical therapy…" She replied cautiously, feeling that was a safe answer. Her instinct was telling her to shout at him that mermaids were not real, but then she already knew of death gods and demons, so she realized that they may indeed be real. "Do you know where she is?"

Scrum's face drooped then. "In the sea somewhere…but I'll catch her one of these days!"

Madame Red sighed in relief, glad she wouldn't have to treat mermaids on top of pirates. It seemed as if everyone on the ship was mad in one way or another. The Captain laughed about the rats and thought they were emergency food supplies, Scrum had a mermaid girlfriend and who knows what the other pirates did?

After waving bye to Oliver, Scrum left to continue with his duties.

Madame Red checked on the young fair haired boy, pondering how in the world he had become a pirate. He looked so young and innocent! How had his life gone so bad? Later she would be sure to ask him, once he was feeling better. His face was still pale but he seemed to be breathing a bit easier which was a good sign.

After putting her supplies back into the cupboard the way she wanted them, she turned to Grell. "Rats are one thing, but scorpions are a different matter! I'm going to insist the Captain does something about them!"

"Shall I come with you?" Grell asked unsure if he should follow her or stay to watch the boy. He thought the kid was about Ciel's age give or take a year.

"Let him rest; we'll only be gone a short time anyway." Madame Red headed out of the door with Grell following. They passed through the belly of the ship and then climbed the staircases up until they got outside. Quickly they headed towards the poop deck where they knew Captain Barbossa would be sitting by the table, his wooden peg propped up on the rail. Before they could say anything, a loud cry went up from a sailor. Madame Red turned at the sound and watched as all of the scruffy pirates ran to the side rail. Curious as to what they were looking at, she went to the rail on the poop deck and peered down into the water.

Wreckage from a ship met her eyes, the assorted items bobbing on the waves. There were splintered boards, wooden crates and assorted other items that could float. The sight sent a cold chill down her back and she shivered. She could imagine herself floundering in the sea all too easily, her long dress pulling her down. Her grip on the rail tightened as she continued to stare at the flotsam. The waves pushed and pulled at the items and then one bit flipped over to reveal the face of a corpse…except it didn't look right at all. She knew she should pull her eyes away from it but she couldn't for some reason and she stared at it, fascinated. She told herself it was just medical curiosity that had her in its grip but it was the same dark dread that made people gawk at carriage accidents or a burning home. Then she realized why the corpse looked so strange: the skin from his face was missing but yet somehow he didn't look like a skeleton either…what could cause that? Feeding fishes maybe…?

Barbossa joined her at the rail, his cold blue eyes staring for a long moment. He swiveled then and quickly strode off towards his officers. "We need to practice with the cannons! Get yer teams ready!"

"Clear for action!" Theodore Groves shouted in a firm voice.

Instantly the pirates on the deck started running around, each one hurrying to their assigned spot and putting items away. Tables were folded against the walls in a swift move, each table had a hinge hooked to the wall and the other end was held up by a rope from the ceiling. The ropes were swiftly pulled free and the tables were stowed, the wooden benches put away as well. The pirates gathered by their assigned cannons in teams.

"We don't have our powder monkey!" Salaman cried up to the captain from where he stood on the main deck, his head tilted back so he could see Barbossa. "He got bit by a scorpion and is in sickbay!"

"Where is that other boy?" Barbossa said in a gruff voice. "Bring him here!"

"Aye, aye Captain!" Pintel laughed with glee as he and Ragetti ran off to get him. They clomped down the wooden stairs and hurried towards the galley.

"What's going on?" Madame Red asked Barbossa as she stood there by the rail uncertain. She moved closer to him, a nervous feeling in her gut. She had heard him say something about cannons but her mind had still been on that dreadful corpse. "Are we firing on someone?"

"Nay, Doctor. We be a practicing. I don't care fer the look of that wreck there; that and we be coming up on the Spanish Main soon. Then we'll do some honest pirating!" Barbossa turned to look at her with hooded eyes. "When ye hear the call to 'clear for action' ye should get to sickbay and get yer tools ready, as no doubt the injured will be pouring in then."

She stared at the fierce eyed pirate, sensing he wasn't telling her everything. "Now Captain, about these scorpions…"

"We'll deal with them after the drills…" Barbossa promised, waving a hand at her. She was startled to see his fingernails were incredibly long, curled somewhat and painted black. Didn't he ever cut them? "Now run along to yer post fer the drills."

She sighed but headed for the stairs, lifting her long skirts in her hands. "He is simply impossible!"

000

The door to the galley burst open with a loud bang, the sudden noise causing Ciel to jump in fright. Then his single blue eye fell on the two pirates, the very same ones that had threatened to dress him up in a dress. They sported maniac grins on their dirt ridden faces and he gulped nervously. "What are you…"

Before he could get another word out, they gripped him by his thin arms and started to drag him out of the kitchen.

"The Captain wants to see you!" Pintel said with a tone of authority.

Ragetti snickered.

"I didn't do anything!" Ciel protested loudly as he struggled to get free in vain. They were just too strong from him and he too weak from much sitting plus his cat-related asthma.

"It's what yer _going_ to do…" Pintel said in a frightening voice. Then he burst out laughing.

To be continued…

Note: The Cabin Boy does not have a name so I have named him Oliver, a common name from the 1700s. The ancient Egyptians had baking soda so it's been around a very long time –it's apparently a home remedy for scorpion stings.


End file.
